DEKALB, Ill. – Northern Illinois University's Emily Naegele can add another honor to her list of accolades as the Huskie catcher was named third-team All-American by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association, the NFCA announced today.

Naegele, who was named to College Sports Information Directors of America's Academic All-America® Division I Softball Team last week, is the lone representative from the Mid-American Conference on any of the NFCA's three All-America teams.

"Being named the third-best catcher in the country just tells you the kind of year she's had," said NIU head coach Christina Sutcliffe. "She's the only representative from the MAC, which is awesome for our conference and great for our region.

"Naegele just had a phenomenal year, both offensively and defensively. This year, she learned how to be more selective at the plate, took her walks when they gave them to her."

The first Huskie to garner All-America honors since Tammy Pytel in 1997, who was also a third team selection, Naegele is one of five NIU softball players to earn a spot on one of the NFCA's teams all-time. Jill Justin earned first team honors three straight years (1987-89), while Julie Sexton (1991) and Niki VanHooreweghe (1993) were third team selections.

A first-team All-Great Lakes Region honoree, Naegele set five school records, including single season marks for home runs (20), RBIs (56), slugging percentage (.894) and career records for home runs (32) and RBIs (144). In addition to setting school records, Naegele also established career highs in hits (61), batting average (.404), walks (35), and total bases (135) in 2016 and had a career-low 27 strikeouts. She started all 165 games for NIU during her three-year career, a majority of them at catcher.

Naegele, who helped lead NIU to its first Mid-American Conference West Division crown since 2000 in 2016, recorded 19 multi-RBI, 18 multi-hit and three multi-home run games. She hit her first career grand slam at Loyola and drove in a career-high five runs, going 2-for-2 with two home runs in a 13-9 victory over Elon on the Huskies' spring break trip.

"She's irreplaceable, no doubt," Sutcliffe said. "She gave our pitchers a ton of confidence out there to throw whatever they needed to throw in any situation. Off the field, what she did in the classroom being an Academic All-American shows you what kind of an all-around person she truly is."

A first-team All-MAC selection, Naegele earned a spot on the MAC's All-Tournament Team after going 2-for-6, hitting a home run in each of the first two games, walking four times and driving in four runs in NIU's four games at the MAC Tournament.