2025 CSC Softball Academic All-America Teams

After an illustrious and record-setting career with the Hillsdale College softball team, Joni Russell departs with one more piece of recognition on Tuesday.

It's one that perhaps encapsulates her excellence at Hillsdale better than any other, as Russell was named a third team Academic All-American by the College Sports Communicators. She is one of just 34 softball players across all of NCAA DII to make an Academic All-American team, and one of just six pitchers.

Russell is just the third Hillsdale softball player to earn CSC Academic All-American honors in the history of the Chargers' program, and the first since Dawn Morin and Julie Maloney were both recognized by the program in 1991. Among all Chargers athletes, Russell is the 30^th CSC Academic All-American at Hillsdale across all sports.

CSC began the distinguished Academic All-America® program in 1952, and since then, has honored thousands of deserving student-athletes from numerous sports across all divisions with these elite Academic All-America® scholar-athlete honors. Student-athletes must maintain a 3.5 GPA or better and are selected based on their academic and athletic achievements.

Russell finished a record-setting career at Hillsdale with her best season as a senior to earn both unanimous All-American honors and the Academic All-American nod, guiding Hillsdale to its most wins in a single season in 34 years, the program's fourth G-MAC Tournament title and sixth NCAA DII Midwest Regional bid, and, with three NCAA Tournament victories, the deepest run in the regional in program history.

On top of first team All-American honors from the both the D2CCA and NFCA, Russell also was voted as the D2CCA Midwest Region Pitcher of the Year and a first team All-Region player to both the NFCA and D2CCA, as well as earning her fourth first-team All-G-MAC honor and her second G-MAC Pitcher of the Year award in 2025. Russell earned her achievements by ranking among NCAA DII's best pitchers throughout the 2025 campaign, leading the country in the regular season with a 0.60 ERA and still ranking fourth in the nation with a 0.86 average at the conclusion of the regional postseason round despite battling through G-MAC Tournament and Midwest Regional games against tough opponents.
 
The Cable, Ohio native finished her senior season with a 23-4 record, 240 strikeouts and 11 shutouts in 26 starts, dominating the competition. Three of her four losses came in extra innings and all four by two or less runs, with three of the four coming against NCAA Tournament teams and two against Super Regional qualifiers. Russell went a perfect 16-0 against G-MAC opponents on the season, finishing a standout career in conference play with utter domination of her league competition whenever she stepped in the circle in 2025.
 
Russell graduates with Hillsdale's career records in strikeouts (899), wins (73), innings pitched (662) and shutouts (28), as well as the Chargers' single-season records in strikeouts (268), innings pitched (192.1) and shutouts (11) and the program's single-game record-holder for strikeouts (19). She also set G-MAC records for career strikeouts, shutouts, ERA (1.26), opponent batting average against (.192) and Ks per 7 innings (9.51). She is one of only two pitchers in program history to earn All-American honors, and the only pitcher to earn a first team nod and multiple All-American honors in her career.

As a student, Russell also stood out in the classroom, earning D2ADA All-Academic honors her final two seasons and Academic All-Conference honors all four years of her career as well as two CSC Academic All-District honors. She graduated Cum Laude in May from Hillsdale with a degree in exercise science and a final GPA of 3.66, proving herself to be a sterling representative of a what it means to be a true student-athlete.