Arizona softball's Kennedy a Gold Glove winner, joins teammates Skaggs, Shockey as '24 All-Americans

In a season that saw the UA not only return to the NCAA Tournament but sweep a regional on the road and finish effectively tied for ninth nationally by way of reaching the Super Regionals, senior second baseman Allie Skaggs, sophomore left fielder Dakota Kennedy and freshmen center fielder Regan Shockey each received national All-America-level honors.

For the third consecutive year, Skaggs has earned All-America recognition of some kind — 2024 marking her first-career first-team nod. D1Softball.com selected Skaggs a first-teamer at second base in her final year as a Wildcat.

Skaggs hit .304 while starting all 56 UA games, posting a team-high 14 home runs, but Pac-12 play is where Skaggs was most on point. She hit .329 with half her home runs and more than half her RBIs in just 24 conference games.

The 2024 season also marks back-to-back years an Arizona Wildcat has been named a national Rawlings Gold Glove Recipient for her defensive prowess.

In 2023, Skaggs notably won the award for her error-free season in the Wildcats’ infield. This year, it’s Kennedy, errorless herself in 117 chances as the everyday UA left fielder. If Rawlings goes to the same trouble again this year, Kennedy, just like Skaggs a year ago, can expect a wearable, gold-colored Rawlings Glove with display mount to show up on the UA campus sometime this summer. The award is not dissimilar to those won each season by the best at each position in Major League Baseball over the past 65-plus years its been handed out.

The Rawlings Gold Glove Award, which was first given to college softball players beginning in 2022, is presented by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association, which also honored Kennedy as an NFCA third-team All-American; Kennedy was also named this week a second-team All-American by D1Softball.

An argument could have been made for Arizona to have more than one Gold Glover this season, to boot. Arizona sophomore shortstop Tayler Biehl and Oregon sophomore shortstop Paige Sinicki were named the Pac-12’s Co-Defensive Players of the Year last month, though Sinicki was honored by the NFCA as the lone Gold Glove winner at short for 2024.

Perhaps the only thing contending with, if not overshadowing, Kennedy’s play in the field was her presence at the plate. In hitting 13 home runs — one of three UA players tied for second on the Wildcat roster behind Skaggs — and posting a team-best 117 total bases and .688 slugging percentage, Kennedy entered the postseason with a robust .398 batting average on the season.

All she did during Pac-12 Tournament and NCAA Tournament play? Go a combined 8 for 19 out of her customary leadoff spot — a .421 clip that put her season average at exactly .400 on the nose in 170 at bats over 56 starts.

Lowe said “it’s not a surprise” to her that Kennedy can do “literally anything” at the plate.

“I know that sounds crazy, but I get to see her work every day,” Lowe said while speaking during a virtual media session after the Wildcats’ run through the Fayetteville Regional, where they dispatched of host and No. 12 national seed Arkansas once and Villanova twice to sweep their way on the supers. “And it’s really fulfilling to see how much work she puts in — just as much on the defensive side as she does on the offensive side.

“Hitters like that, they tend to spend a lot of time on that offensive game,” Lowe added. “And she just kills it (defensively) at throwing the bases … getting to balls in the gap. And that’s been a big thing for her is not allowing any doubles this year.”

Speaking that same day, Kennedy said “it’s just preparation” as to how she got better as as a hitter as the season rolled on.

“We prep a lot … during our batting practice, during live at bats, and honestly it’s a whole team,” she said, before deflecting recognition for her individual success as part of the greater team outcomes. “We’re so bought in with everything that we’re doing during practices and just bringing it into the game. I think that’s what’s working so well.”

Lowe said Kennedy “doesn’t have a ceiling and she will continue to get better through her senior year.

Kennedy’s postseason push put her alongside Shockey, named a freshman All-American this week by D1Softball, in the 2024 .400 club. The rookie, who literally played alongside Kennedy in the UA outfield and batted right behind her in the Wildcat lineup finished at .404 while also starting all 56 games in 2024.

It marked the first time in a decade two Wildcats have topped .400 in the same season in; Kelsey Rodriguez (.419) and Hallie Wilson (.414) did it in 2014.

Lowe, a star outfielder for the Wildcats from 2004-2007 herself, has the distinction of not only hitting .400 or better four straight seasons in her UA playing career, but hitting better than .500 in 2005.

Skaggs, Kennedy and Shockey were also named to the NFCA West Region first team, while sophomore pitcher Aissa Silva (second-team) and senior first baseman Carlie Scupin (third-team) were also honored.

In addition to the on-field awards handed out to Wildcats this week, Kennedy, Skaggs, Scupin and Biehl were also College Sports Communicators (CSC, formerly CoSIDA) Academic All-District honorees.