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AUSTIN, Texas – University of West Florida softball student-athlete Rhiannon Sassman has been named a 2019 Google Cloud Academic All-America® first team selection by the College Sports Information Directors of America, as announced Wednesday. Sassman becomes the 17th UWF student-athlete to earn Academic All-America status, and she is the third UWF softball student-athlete to do so.

She is the sixth UWF student-athlete to earn first team Academic All-America honors and the first in UWF softball program history. 

Sassman, a native of Orlando, Florida, holds a 3.88 GPA in biomedical sciences and just wrapped up one of the best all-around careers in UWF history. She ranks in the top 10 in UWF career history in 10 categories, including triples (24; 2nd), doubles (48; 4th), slugging percentage (.581; 5th), total bases (366; 5th), RBIs (156; 7th), batting (.362; 8th), and runs scored (166; 9th).

The senior saved her best season for last, earning All-American honors from the NFCA and D2CCA, being named the South Region Player of the Year by the D2CCA and the Gulf South Conference Player of the Year, earning GSC Top Ten Award status, and taking a place on the NFCA Player of the Year Top 25 Watchlist.

Sassman was also a part of a senior class that won 173 games over four years, the most in a four-year stretch at UWF since 2002-05.

Sassman is one of three student-athletes from the Gulf South Conference to earn Academic All-America status, as she is joined by Brianna Caldwell (Mississippi College) and Haley Barnette (Union) on the second team.