Five members of the University of Tennessee at Martin softball team were named to the 2026 College Sports Communicators Academic All-District team, the organization announced Tuesday, May 26. Senior Avary Makarewicz, juniors Payton Harris, Karena Recrosio and Carly Ward, and sophomore Natalie Kreuziger all received this recognition.
To qualify for the award, student-athletes must be sophomores or higher in class standing, maintain at least a 3.50 GPA, and compete in at least 90 percent of their institution’s matches or start in at least 66 percent of them.
Payton Harris is a health and human performance major from Clarksville, Tennessee, with a 3.87 GPA. She was an All-Ohio Valley Conference second team honoree this season with a record of six wins and six losses and an earned run average (ERA) of 3.26 along with thirty strikeouts. In conference play, Harris went five-and-one with a save and two shutouts while recording the lowest ERA in OVC conference play at just 1.04.
Natalie Kreuziger is also a health and human performance major from Huntingdon, Tennessee, with a 3.51 GPA who was named to the All-OVC first team. She finished her season eight-and-four overall with a team-low ERA of 2.61 and led her teammates with seventy-five strikeouts as well as two solo shutouts, one combined shutout, and three saves.
Avary Makarewicz graduated as an interdisciplinary studies major from Ripon, Wisconsin, with a GPA of 3.88; she was named to the All-OVC second team after leading the league in home runs (11) and RBIs (47), finishing her season batting .336.
Karena Recrosio is a health and human performance major from Weirton, West Virginia, who posted a GPA of 3.61 while earning OVC All-Newcomer and OVC All-Tournament honors during her first year on the Skyhawks roster; she had the team’s second-highest batting average (.360) while leading UT Martin in runs scored (37).
Carly Ward is an agriculture business major from Hendersonville, Tennessee, holding a GPA of 3.79; she made it onto the All-OVC first team after finishing fourth in conference batting average (.390), which ranks sixth-best for single-season school history.
Makarewicz and Ward were also selected as Academic All-America finalists out of twenty-six Ohio Valley Conference players recognized on this year’s Academic All-District list; only four advanced to become finalists for Academic All-America honors—with UT Martin being the only school having multiple candidates on that ballot.
The College Sports Communicators will announce its three-team Academic All-America awards on June 16.
