MARSHALL, Texas – Academic history continues to be made for the East Texas Baptist University softball program as Avery Holland (Jr.; Fredericksburg, Texas) and Makayla Menchue (Jr.; Hallsville, Texas) were named to the College Sports Communicators Academic All-American First Team. ETBU is one of three programs (Linfield University, Virginia Wesleyan) that had two student-athletes on the CSC Academic All-American First Team.
 
It is the first time in program history that two student-athletes have earned First Team accolades in the same season. It is also the third time in four years that two student-athletes have been named CSC Academic All-Americans for ETBU softball. Mary Francis Ellis, ETBU's only three-time CSC Academic All-American, and Hannah Benavides (2^nd team) were selected in 2024. Ellis and Ashley Croft were on the third team in 2023. Overall, ETBU softball now has 15 CSC Academic All-Americans from 12 student-athletes.
 
ETBU won the 2025 ASC regular season and tournament championships, hosted the NCAA Division III Marshall, Texas Regional, and had the No. 5 NPI National Ranking.
 
There are only 33 student-athletes that were voted to the CSC Academic All-American teams voted on by the CSC members. Student-athletes needed a 3.5 grade point average or higher to be considered for any CSC academic awards along with a percentage of games played.
 
Below are the bios on Holland and Menchue.
 

Avery Holland | 3.91 | Jr. | Speech Language Pathology | Fredericksburg, TX
Avery Holland is a two-time NFCA All-American that led the ASC in wins and has a chance to be a CSC Academic All-American. She helped ETBU to the 2026 ASC Regular Season and Tournament Championship along with making the and hosting the 2026 NCAA Marshall, Texas Regional Tournament.
 
This year she was the ASC Tournament MVP and Pitcher of the Year while being an All-ASC First Team selection. She also was voted onto the ASC All-Tournament team and won the ASC Pitcher of the Week award three times. She won 19 games and posted a 2-hit shutout vs. then #13 Emory with strikeouts. She led the ASC in five categories - ERA, Wins, Shutout, IP, & strikeouts.
 
Academically, she is a three-time ASC All-Academic team member and a two-time NFCA All-American Scholar-Athlete & Team NFCA award winner. She has won the ETBU Dept. of Speech-Language Pathology Academic Excellence Award, twice, and graduated in 3 years being on the Dean's List and President's List.
 
She has volunteered for the local Morning High 5's Drop Off team at a local elementary school and been a Weekly Pen Pal to young children battling cancer. At ETBU, she has helped  with Operation Christmas Child & Arbor Day Tree Planting and is a member of ETBU FCA.
 

Makayla Menchue | 3.96 | Jr. | Kinesiology | Hallsville, TX
Makayla Menchue earns her first College Sports Communicators Academic All-American award being named to the First Team. She is the 2026 American Southwest Conference Player of the Year and All-ASC First Team at first base. A two-time ASC All-Academic team member, she is a NFCA All-American Scholar-Athlete, has the highest grade point average for the ETBU secondary/all-level education majors, and earned the ETBU All-level Kinesiology Education Rising Star Award. The two-time ASC Hitter of the Week led the ASC in home runs (7) and was second in RBI (35). Batting .328, she also played and started in 44 games recording 39 hits, five doubles, 25 runs scored, and only had eight strikeouts in 119 at-bats. Outside of the classroom and field, she volunteers for the Hallsville ISD Morning High 5's Drop Off team, is a weekly Pen Pal to young children battling cancer, helped with Operation Christmas Child and the Arbor Day Tree planting at ETBU, and is a member of the ETBU FCA.

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