IRVINE, Calif. - For the first time this decade, Concordia University Irvine has a CSC First Team Academic All-America selection!

CUI softball standout Kayla Rodgers was voted by College Sports Communicators (CSC) as one of the best all-around student-athletes in NCAA DII softball after an impressive school year in the classroom and on the field.

The Chino Hills, Calif. native and former Grand Canyon D1 softball player earned a 3.96 GPA while working towards her master's in counseling.

To reach that rarefied air, there is a lengthy process voted on by the college sports communicators (formerly known nationally as sports information directors or SIDs) that includes hundreds of nominees with impressive cumulative GPAs, accolades in their sport and consistency over the course of the season as an impact player with their team.

The PacWest Newcomer of the Year, Rodgers led Concordia softball in many categories this past season including batting average (.399), hits (69), home runs (9), triples (6) and steals (20).

A graduate of Ayala High School, Rodgers was also named First Team All-PacWest this spring as well as First Team All-Region by both the NFCA and D2CCA.

The graduate student started all 57 games as CUI's primary left fielder and also led her squad with an amazing 1.157 OPS (on-base percentage combined with slugging percentage). She only committed two errors all season with 90 putouts and five assists from the outfield, and collected multi-hit games 23 times.

CLICK HERE to congratulate Kayla on our instagram post at @cuigoldeneagles and @cuisoftball