Huskers Earn All-Big Ten Honors

Three Nebraska softball players received All-Big Ten honors on Wednesday. Senior Kiki Stokes and junior MJ Knighten earned spots on the All-Big Ten first team, while senior Mattie Fowler garnered second-team accolades.

Stokes and Knighten were both repeat first-team All-Big Ten selections, while Fowler earned all-conference honors for the first time in her career. Fowler was also named the first baseman on the Big Ten All-Defensive team. Junior Lotte Sjulin rounded out the Husker award winners, as she won a Big Ten Sportsmanship Award for the second straight season.

A native of Olathe, Kan., Stokes is the first Husker outfielder to be a two-time all-conference honoree since Nicole Trimboli, who was a two-time first-team All-Big 12 selection from 2001-04. Stokes batted .447 in Big Ten Conference play with seven doubles, one triple, four homers and 15 RBIs. The center fielder also drew 14 walks and stole nine bases in Nebraska’s 22 league games. In Big Ten games, Stokes was second in the conference in hits, third in runs, fourth in average and stolen bases, fifth in on-base percentage (.547) and sixth in doubles. Overall, Stokes is batting .414 this season, which currently ranks as the fifth-highest average in Husker history.

Knighten was honored as an All-Big Ten selection for the third straight year, garnering first-team accolades for the second consecutive season after being a second-team honoree as a freshman in 2014. Knighten is only the third Husker third baseman to be a three-time all-conference selection. The Big Ten’s top home run hitter, Knighten batted .333 in conference play with four doubles, six homers and 23 RBIs. She also walked 19 times in 23 games. A native of Buena Park, Calif., Knighten is batting .386 overall this season with 21 home runs and 59 RBIs. She is one of only eight players nationally with 50 hits, 50 runs and 50 RBIs and is one of 10 players averaging more than 1.0 hit, 1.0 run and 1.0 RBI per game. Knighten ranks second nationally with her 21 home runs – one shy of the Nebraska record – and she also ranks 10th in the country in runs and RBIs and 13th in slugging percentage.

A fifth-year senior, Fowler is enjoying her best season with the Big Red. A native of Tucson, Ariz., Fowler is batting .338 with six doubles, three homers and 38 RBIs, setting career highs in nearly every offensive category. In conference play, Fowler batted .329 and drove in 20 runs in Nebraska’s 22 Big Ten games. She has also excelled defensively, as she is perfect at first base in 388 chances this season. She is bidding to become only the second Husker to post a 1.000 fielding percentage in a minimum of 150 chances. Earning second-team All-Big Ten accolades and a spot on the Big Ten All-Defensive team continues an impressive awards haul for Fowler, who earned first-team academic all-district accolades for the second straight year. Fowler was named the 2015-16 Nebraska Female Student-Athlete of the Year and a 2016 Big Ten Medal of Honor recipient.

Sjulin was selected as Nebraska’s Big Ten Sportsmanship Award winner. An Omaha native, Sjulin is 2-for-6 this season with a double, two RBIs and nine runs scored. She has produced her first career hit, extra-base hit and RBI this season and produced an RBI single and a walk in her only two plate appearances in Big Ten Conference play.

The announcement of the 2016 All-Big Ten teams comes on the eve of the conference tournament. Nebraska will open play at the 2016 Big Ten Softball Tournament on Thursday at 4:30 p.m. (Central), when the fifth-seeded Huskers take on No. 12 seed Purdue.