Four Morningside softball players were named to the 2017 NFCA NAIA All-Central Region Softball Team.

Four Morningside College softball players were named to the 2017 National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) NAIA All-Central Region Team.

The Mustangs’ Rachel Henks, Rachel Koch and Allie Martinez named to the first team and Moriah Bohlmann was a second-team all-region selection.

Koch was a repeat first-team all-region selection, while Henks moved up from last year’s all-region second team.

Henks, a senior pitcher from Lee’s Summit, Mo., set a Morningside record for pitching victories in a season when she fashioned a 34-10 record with a 1.58 earned run average this past season. She allowed only 175 hits and struck out 272 batters in 265.2 innings. Henks, who limited the opposition to a paltry .181 batting average, pitched eight shutouts and completed 30 of her 37 starts.

Koch, a senior outfielder from Denison, Iowa, was the Mustangs’ leading hitter with 61 hits in 170 at-bats for a .359 batting average to win her second straight team batting title. She had 13 doubles, four home runs and 39 RBIs.

Martinez, a senior catcher from Council Bluffs, Iowa, had a .354 batting average with 11 doubles, four home runs and 43 RBIs.

Bohlmann, a senior first baseman from Denison, Iowa, was the Mustangs’ second leading hitter with a .356 batting average. She led the team with 14 doubles, four triples, 46 RBIs and a .586 slugging percentage and ranked second on the team with six home runs.

Morningside posted a 40-12 record and won the Great Plains Athletic Conference championship with a 17-3 record en route to a berth in the NAIA Softball National Championship Opening Round. The Mustangs have made eight NAIA national tournament appearances in the last nine years.

Click here for the complete NFCA NAIA All-Central Region Team.