Oregon pitcher Cheridan Hawkins was named a third team Capital One Academic All-American, the College Sports Information Directors of America announced Wednesday.

Hawkins is one of just six pitchers across the Div. I ranks to be named a first, second or third team Academic All-American.

She is the fifth Oregon softball player to earn Academic All-America honors. She joins Susan Voeller (second team, 1988), Kim Manning (first team, 1991), Kristi Leiter (first team, 2005) and Alexa Peterson (first team, 2013) on the prestigious list.

The sophomore has a 3.70 GPA as a family and human services major at the UO. The lefty, who was also named Pac-12 Pitcher of the Year this season, ranks fourth in the nation with 302 strikeouts, fifth in the nation with 31 wins and is 10th in the country with 11 shutouts.

Hawkins picked up her 50th career win in the Ducks' first regional win over Wisconsin last weekend, which already ranks her sixth all-time in the UO record books in just her second season on the team.

To be eligible for Academic All-America voting, a student-athlete must compete in 50 percent or more of her games in a season and hold a 3.30 or better cumulative GPA.

Since 1952, the College Sports Information Directors of America have honored more than 20,000 outstanding student-athletes with this prestigious award, which became known as the Capital One Academic All-America award in 2011.

The program used to select teams from just two divisions -- the University Division, comprised of Division I schools; and the College Division, which included Division II, Division III, NAIA schools, and two-year colleges. To better honor the diversity of collegiate talent, however, the program was expanded in 2011 to include four divisions: Division I, Division II, Division III, and the College division that includes NAIA, two-year colleges and Canadian schools.

- from GoDucks.com