GOETZ NAMED 3RD-TEAM NJCAA ALL-AMERICAN

CLICK FOR 2023 NJCAA DIVISION I SOFTBALL TEAM

Hutchinson CC Sports Information

After a season where she broke seven single-season or single-game records and was sixth in the nation in RBIs, Hutchinson Community College sophomore first baseman Aspen Goetz was named a third-team NJCAA Division I Softball All-American on Tuesday.

Goetz, a sophomore first baseman from Rose Hill, became the 11th NJCAA All-American in program history. Blue Dragon Softball has now had at least one All-American in three-consecutive seasons, a program first after Madison Grimes was named a second-team All-American in 2021 and Riley Wertz was a third-team All-American in 2022.

Goetz put together one of the best single seasons in Blue Dragon history in a 2023 season where the Blue Dragons finished as Jayhawk Conference champions for the first time in 31 years and were Region VI Tournament runner-up after a record-breaking 44-8 season. The 2023 Dragons were ranked as high as No. 13 this season.

Over 52 games played this past season, Goetz hit .462 with 80 total hits, 17 doubles and a school-single-season record 20 home runs. She had a Blue Dragon single-season record 98 RBIs, which was No. 4 in the NJCAA at the end of the regular season and sixth best in the nation after postseason play. Goetz also broke Blue Dragon single-season records with 157 total bases and 37 extra-base hits. Her .908 slugging percentage ranked sixth in Blue Dragon single-game history and her .462 batting average was third-best in program single-season history.

Over a 20-game stretch from March 22 to April 29, Goetz racked up a staggering 60 RBIs.

Goetz finished her Blue Dragon career as the program's all-time leader in home runs with 27 and was second in career RBIs with 137.

Goetz owns the top two single-game RBI performances in program history. She had 10 RBIs against Seward County on March 22. She followed that with nine RBIs in a home game against Seward County on April 27 at Fun Valley.

She became just the second Blue Dragon in history with six hits in a single game with six against Seward County on March 23. Goetz tied Sarah Walkup's six hits in 2007.

Goetz became the fifth Blue Dragon to score five runs in a single game, also doing so against Seward County on March 23 in Liberal. That mark tied Kailey Jenkins (2014(, Taylor Ullery (2019) and Madison Grimes, who reached that mark twice, both times in 2023.

Goetz tied for a season-high 23 multiple-hit games. She had six games of five or more RBIs.

Goetz was also named first-team All-Jayhawk Conference in 2023.