Former Comet Sami Heyer among UNI Panthers named All-America Scholar Athlete

To The Press

CEDAR FALLS — The Northern Iowa softball team excelled in the classroom as one of the top 10 programs in the country.

UNI softball has been named to the NFCA Easton Top 10 GPAs list among all Division I softball teams in the country. With a team GPA of 3.680, the Panthers come in at nine with Harvard University taking the top spot. This is the first time UNI has been named to the NFCA and Easton Top 10 GPA list since the organizations partnered in 2016.

Along with taking one of the top team spots, 18 Panther players were named Easton/NFCA All-America Scholar-Athlete.

Among those Panthers was former Charles City All-State pitcher Samantha Heyer.

Heyer is coming off a redshirt junior season from which she was named to the All-Missouri Valley Conference Softball Second Team after posting a 10-4 record with a 2.19 earned run average while striking out 149 in 96 innings.

With the Comets, Heyer was a three-time Iowa Girls Coaches Association All-State Selection — First Team her junior and senior seasons.

In her final season at Charles City, Heyer helped lead the Comets to a third-place finish in the Class 4A bracket of the State Softball Championships. Heyer led the state in pitching wins (35) and strikeouts (375) while posting a 0.50 earned run average her final prep season.

Those other scholar athletes representing the Panthers include Lydia Butters, Maggie Erpelding, Taylor Hogan, Hannah Isley, Savanna Jemilo, Kaylyn Jones, Hannah Kelley, Makenna Kuper, Daryn Lamprecht, Addison McElrath, Sammy Moss, Erica Oler, Ellie Owen, Kailyn Packard, Kamryn Shaffer, Emmy Wells and Anna Wischnowski.

The rankings and honors recognize the academic prowess of softball teams across NFCA membership categories. Team GPAs and scholar-athletes were submitted by member head coaches.