Fort Hays State had five softball student-athletes receive College Sports Communicators Academic All-District Softball selections for the 2026 season. This award honors a combination of academic and athletic accomplishments of the individuals selected.
To be considered for Academic All-District honors, softball student-athletes must have at least a 3.5 cumulative GPA and must have played in 90 percent of team games played or start at least 66 percent of the total number of team games played. They also must be at least a sophomore in athletic eligibility. A school can have a maximum of five selections in softball, so FHSU reached the maximum allowed this year.
Earning the honor for FHSU Softball in 2026 were
Peyton Shepard,
Abbey Duarte,
Audrey Gillespie,
Lilliana Ramirez-Johnson, and
Lilly Mohr. Shepard, Duarte, Gillespie, and Ramirez-Johnson all were All-MIAA selections in 2026, while Mohr had strong offensive numbers and was a regular starter for the Tigers.
Shepard was a three-time All-MIAA selection for the Tigers, earning selections in 2023, 2024, and 2026. She led the Tigers in stolen bases in 2026 with 37, moving to the top of the career stolen bases list at FHSU with 76. Shepard put together another great offensive season, hitting .377 for the second-straight year she was on the field with 60 hits, while adding 36 runs, 21 RBIs, and a .428 on-base percentage. Her career .376 batting average was third-best in program history, nearly replicating the same batting average all three years on the field (.373, .377, .377). She produced at least 60 hits all three years. She is now a two-time CSC Academic All-District selection. She obtained her bachelor's degree in Biology at FHSU, holding a 3.93 GPA.
Duarte earned her first All-MIAA honor as a Tiger in 2026 at designated player. She led the Tigers in RBIs for the season with 45. It was the seventh-most RBIs for a season in FHSU's NCAA Division II history. Duarte was the NCAA Division II national leader for sacrifice flies in the regular season with nine, setting a new single-season record at FHSU. She hit .305 for the season with 14 extra-base hits, while slugging .475. Duarte even contributed in the pitching circle a bit for the season, throwing 13.2 innings with one complete game and a 2-0 record. Duarte is a Criminal Justice major at FHSU, holding a 3.82 cumulative GPA.
Gillespie earned the first All-MIAA honor of her career at catcher in 2026. She finished the season with a .315 batting average, 51 hits, 18 extra-base hits (which included a team-best 13 doubles), and 37 RBIs. She was second on the team in runs batted in. Gillespie was also perfect on her four stolen base attempts. She is a Health and Human Performance major at FHSU with a cumulative GPA of 3.70.
Ramirez-Johnson picked up her first All-MIAA honor in 2026, selected at second base. She was strong defensively for the Tigers with just three errors in 195 chances, posting a .985 fielding percentage for the season. At the plate, she hit .266 for the season with nine extra-base hits, 22 RBIs, and 16 runs scored. She struck out only five times for the season in 143 at bats (just a 3% rate), matching two of her three previous seasons when she also had just five (2023, 2025). That mark of five is third-best for a single-season in program history, but she is the only player in program history to finish with five or less multiple times for players with at least 100 at bats. Ramirez-Johnson obtained her bachelor's degree in Health and Human Performance with a cumulative GPA of 3.53.
Mohr had a strong offensive season for FHSU, hitting .340 with 29 RBIs and 27 runs scored. She led the team in home runs with 12, which tied the third most hit in a season in FHSU history. She also led the team in walks (22), slugging percentage (.645), and on-base plus slugging percentage (1.072). Mohr holds a perfect 4.0 GPA as a Criminal Justice major at FHSU.
