LOUISVILLE, KY -- Four Peach Belt Conference softball players have been named All-Americans by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA). Georgia Southwestern's Zoe Willis and Columbus State's Hannah Rose Corbin were named first-team All-Americans with CSU's Kenzie Bayer and North Georgia's Sophie Mooney named to the third team.
It is the second time in the last three years that the PBC has had four or more NFCA All-Americans.
Willis earns her second All-America honor of the season after being named the Ron Lenz D2CCA National Player of the Year on Wednesday.
Willis is coming off a historic 2023 season that saw her lead NCAA Division II with 25 home runs. That is the second-highest single-season total in PBC history. The junior from Pine Mountain, Ga., was named the PBC Player of the Year for the second year in a row and the D2CCA Southeast Region Player of the Year. She was tied for the PBC lead (with Corbin) in slugging percentage and was fourth in RBIs, second in runs scored, second in OPS and second in batting average. After three seasons in Americus, Willis is currently seventh in career home runs.
She also pitched, making 16 starts and 26 appearances for 104.2 total innings to lead the team. She was 14-3 in the circle with a 2.54 ERA and 99 total strikeouts.
Corbin,also named a D2CCA first-team All-American this week, finishes her illustrious career with 59 career home runs, second in conference history, and 786 career strikeouts which is ninth-most. In 2023, the senior from Clanton, Ala., broke the CSU single-season home run record with 23 and led the Peach Belt in slugging percentage (with Willis), on-base percentage, OPS, runs scored and was second in home runs and RBIs. Corbin's 184 career RBIs is the sixth-highest total in league history.
In the circle, the PBC Pitcher of the Year was 23-9 with 40 total appearances and 190.0 innings pitched. She led the conference in wins, innings and strikeouts with 210. Corbin is the only player in Peach Belt history to be named the Freshman of the Year, Player of the Year and Pitcher of the Year over the course of their career. She was also named All-Conference all four years and earns her fourth All-American honor.
New in 2023 is the renaming of the first-team Utility/Pitcher award to honor the late Joan Joyce, an NFCA Hall of Famer and pioneer of women's sports. Corbin was voted Division II's inaugural recipient of the Joan Joyce Utility/Pitcher All-America First Team award.
A junior first baseman from Marbury, Ala., Bayer earns her first All-America honor. A first-team All-Conference selection in 2023, she hit .353 with 19 home runs and 55 RBIs. She was tied for third in the conference and tied for eighth in NCAA Division II in home runs; she was also sixth in the league in RBIs and third in slugging percentage and OPS. Named the PBC Player of the Week on April 10, she had a multi-home run game against Lander and 10 total bases in a game against North Georgia.
Mooney leads North Georgia in batting average while earning a 9-2 record inside the circle, owning a 2.44 ERA and making 26 appearances. The Lawrenceville, Ga. native has been the ultimate dual threat for the Nighthawks this season, hitting .436 and leading the team in hits with 89. Her 65 RBIs rank second on the team and tenth nationally. Mooney is third on the team in home runs with 10 and has accumulated 140 total bases this season, leading the Nighthawks in that category.
In her first season in a North Georgia uniform, Mooney has earned All-Conference, All-Region and now All-American honors, becoming the 14th different player in North Georgia's NCAA era to earn an NFCA All-American selection.