DALLAS – Conference USA released its softball all-conference and superlative honors ahead of the 2021 C-USA Championship beginning Wednesday in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Charlotte junior catcher Bailey Vannoy was crowned C-USA Player of the Year, while Regular Season Champion North Texas collected four of the five specialty awards, the most earned by one team in a single season in league history. 
 
Mean Green head coach Rodney DeLong was voted C-USA Coach of the Year for the second time in his three seasons at the helm of the program. Under DeLong in 2021, senior Hope Trautwein was named Pitcher of the Year and southpaw Janie Worthington earned Freshman of the Year recognition. In addition, graduate student and Texas transfer Tuesday DerMargosian took home C-USA's Newcomer of the Year honor. 
 
Vannoy is the first 49er to earn the league’s top individual award following a standout campaign in which she led Charlotte in most offensive categories for the second-consecutive season. The battery started all 47 games as the program finished atop the East Division and clinched a spot in the C-USA Tournament for the first time since 2017. Vannoy leads the nation with 21 doubles on the year and is one away from breaking the school record. The All-Conference USA First Team selection has registered a team-leading 20 multi-hit games and 12 multi-RBI contests, while ranking first in C-USA in hits (59), home runs (13) and total bases (119). Her .778 slugging percentage also stands second-best among all league hitters.
 
Trautwein’s accolade is the latest of several accrued in her career, both in the circle and off the field. A 2021 C-USA All-Academic Team honoree, the right-hander set North Texas’ single-season strikeout record with 220 and counting, tied the school's all-time career wins record (60) and also eclipsed the 600th-career strikeout mark, making her just the second pitcher in program history to achieve the feat. The All-C-USA First Team nod leads the nation in saves (7), while topping the league in ERA (1.39) and strikeouts (220). She reached 200 strikeouts on the season before any other conference pitcher surpassed the century mark.
 
Trautwein made NCAA Division I history on April 11 when she tossed the sport’s first-ever perfect game recorded all via strikeouts on the road at Arkansas-Pine Bluff. The jaw-dropping performance marked her third-career 21-strikeout game, and second of the 2021 season.
 
Worthington’s superlative comes days after she polished off her career’s first no-hitter en route to her first C-USA Pitcher of the Week nod. The Carnegie, Oklahoma, product closed the regular season with a perfect 9-0 record, including seven victories in conference competition. Her strikeout-to-walk ratio (9.40) ranks fourth in the country and her 10.1 strikeouts per seven innings are good for 20th. The top three ERAs in the league belong to Mean Green hurlers, including Worthington’s 1.94, which ranks third.
 
Following a four-year career at Texas, DerMargosian made the most of her final season while donning the Mean Green uniform. The graduate’s .414 batting average leads all North Texas hitters and is the best clip in the league heading into the conference tournament. Her team-leading 55 hits also stand fourth in C-USA and her speed on the base path has allowed her to tally 14 stolen bases on the year. Through 43 games in 2021, DerMargosian has struck out just four times in 133 at-bats, a mark that ranks 25th in NCAA Division I. 
 
DeLong’s Mean Green set a new single-season wins record with 37 overall, besting the 35 victories tallied in his first season as head coach in 2019. His 2021 squad also inked a school single-season record 81 doubles this season. North Texas experienced a share of its first regular-season conference title under DeLong two seasons ago, and secured the C-USA crown outright for the first time in school history on Saturday. The Mean Green will make its second-straight conference tournament appearance as the No. 1 seed on the strength of a program-best 18-game conference win streak.

The Conference USA Softball Championship returns after being canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and this year will be hosted by WKU May 12-15 in Bowling Green, Kentucky. All games leading up to Saturday’s championship will be streamed live on ESPN+, while the title game will be broadcast on CBS Sports Network at noon CT. Full tournament coverage can be found on conferenceusa.com's Softball Championship Central page.

2021 Conference USA Superlative Awards
Player of the Year: Bailey Vannoy, Charlotte
Pitcher of the Year: Hope Trautwein, North Texas
Freshman of the Year: Janie Worthington, North Texas
Newcomer of the Year: Tuesday DerMargosian, North Texas
Coach of the Year: Rodney DeLong, North Texas
 
All-Conference USA First Team
C – Bailey Vannoy, Charlotte
C – Sierra Frazier, UAB
INF – Kourtney Gremillion, Charlotte
INF – Venessa Gallegos, FIU
INF – Aly Harrell, Marshall
INF – Summer Burgess, Middle Tennessee
INF – Alyssa Davis, Southern Miss
OF – Tuesday DerMargosian, North Texas
OF – Destini Brown, Southern Miss
OF – Jenna Olszewski, UAB
OF – Jolie Readeaux, UAB
DP/Utility – Saige Pye, Marshall
P – Hope Trautwein, North Texas
P – Janie Worthington, North Texas
P – Amy Woodham, UAB
 
All-Conference USA Second Team
C – Ashlyn Walker, North Texas
C – Kendall Smith, WKU
INF – Kayla Whitehead, FIU
INF – Jessica Rivera, FIU
INF – Kailey Gamble, North Texas
INF – Analyse Petree, UAB
INF – Maddie Bowlds, WKU
OF – Nicole Bowman, Charlotte
OF – Mya Stevenson, Marshall
OF – Kelci Hill, Middle Tennessee
OF – Paige Carter, WKU
DP/Utility – Kennedy Sullivan, WKU
P – Madelyn Wright, Charlotte
P – GiGi Wall, North Texas
P – Kelsey Aikey, WKU
P – Shelby Nunn, WKU

All-Freshman Team
Cori Henderson, Charlotte
Madelyn Wright, Charlotte
Kaitlyn Cunningham, Florida Atlantic
Tristin Court, Louisiana Tech
Kylie Neel, Louisiana Tech
Lauren Menzina, Louisiana Tech
Kelci Hill, Middle Tennessee
Janie Worthington, North Texas
Maia Wark, North Texas
Ashlyn Walker, North Texas
Kat Ibarra, UTSA