Hope College’s Julie Sobieski has been voted to the 2015 Capital One Academic All-District ® Softball Team for the region that includes Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin.
The senior designated player from St. Charles, Illinois (St. Charles East HS), is now eligible for Academic All-America consideration that will be determined later this month.
Hope coach Mary VandeHoef said Sobieski excels on and off the field.
“Julie is an incredibly driven person. It shows in every aspect of her life,” VandeHoef said. “Softball is part of her life. She works hard. She has become the hitter she is through that drive, just a high level of expectation for herself.
“It’s true in the classroom. She’s got very lofty goals for herself. She works hard to be the best she can be. Her expectation is to be the best in her class. She puts the work in to make that happen. It shows in the job she landed working at the top accounting firm in the country.”
Sobieski has graduated from Hope with a degree in public accounting. She will be taking the multiple-test CPA exam, then move to Chicago to start a job with the accounting firm Deloitte and Touche.
On the field, Sobieski is batting .407 with eight home runs and 37 RBI in 37 games for the nationally ranked Flying Dutch. Hope (28-9) plays in the second round of a NCAA Division III Tournament regional in Lake Forest, Illinois.
Capital One Academic All-District ® Softball Teams come from eight geographic districts across the United States and Canada.
This is the fourth year of the expanded Academic All-America® program as CoSIDA moved from recognizing a University Division (Division I) and a College Division (all non-Division I) and has doubled the number of scholar-athletes honored. The expanded teams include NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II and NCAA Division III participants, while the College Division Academic All-America ® Team combines NAIA, Canadian and two-year schools.
The Capital One Division II and III Academic All-America® program is being financially supported by the NCAA Division II and III national governance structures, to assist CoSIDA with handling the awards fulfillment aspects for the 2014-15 DII and DIII Academic All-America® teams program.
First-team Academic All-District ® honorees advance to the Capital One Academic All-America® Team ballot, where first-, second- and third-team