Five Bruins named to CSC Academic All-District team

GREENWOOD, Ind. -- The College Sports Communicators (CSC) announced their 2024 softball Academic All-District teams Tuesday afternoon, and the Bruins had five student-athletes recognized.

Student-athletes from NCAA Division I, II, and III, as well as the NAIA, were recognized for this honor.

Representatives from Bellevue University on the CSC Softball Academic All-District team included outfielder Myla Beckstrom (Omaha, Neb.), junior pitcher Katie Cunningham (Bellevue, Neb.), senior pitcher Savannah Gunn (Forney, Texas), senior third baseman Madison Machacek (Bellevue, Neb.), and junior outfielder Alexa Sidel (Papillion, Neb.). 

Beckstrom is majoring in Health & Human Performance Pre-Professional and has maintained a 4.00 GPA. She was a member of the North Star Athletic Association Gold Glove team this season and was an NSAA Scholar-Athlete and an Easton/NFCA All-America Scholar-Athlete in 2023. 

Cunningham, a Psychology major with a 3.816 GPA, is a three-time NSAA Scholar-Athlete, a two-time Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athlete, and a two-time Easton/NFCA Scholar-Athlete. Cunningham was named the NSAA Player and Pitcher of the Year after earning first-team all-league honors for the third straight season and NFCA second-team all-Region accolades for the second time in her BU career. She was a four-time NSAA Pitcher of the Week and two-time NSAA Player of the Week this season, leading the league in wins (18), strikeouts (135), and ERA (1.83). She batted .299 with six doubles and four home runs and was second on the team with 31 RBIs. 

Gunn is majoring in Health & Human Performance and maintains a 3.79 GPA. She earned first-team all-NSAA honors and was named to the NSAA Gold Glove team for the second straight season. Gunn ranked second in the conference with a 2.63 ERA and third with 86 strikeouts and 13 wins. Defensively, Gunn did not have a fielding error on the season in 56 chances. She earned NSAA Pitcher of the Week twice this season.

Machacek is majoring in Health & Human Performance and Education while sporting a 3.805 GPA. She earned second-team all-NSAA honors this season while batting .307 with 12 doubles, four home runs, and 27 RBIs. 

Sidel, a Business Administration major with a 3.894 GPA, earned first-team all-NSAA honors this season. She led the Bruins and the NSAA with nine home runs. Sidel batted .317 with five doubles, two triples, nine home runs, and 27 RBIs.  

Note: To be nominated, the student-athlete must be a sophomore both academically and athletically. They must have competed in 90% of the institution's games played or started in at least 66% of the games. The student-athlete must have at least a 3.50 cumulative GPA (on a 4.0 scale). Graduate students must have a minimum of 3.50 for both their graduate program GPA and their undergraduate GPA.

All five student-athletes will move onto the CSC Academic All-America ballot, with the announcement of those teams coming out on June 18.

The Bruins wrapped up the 2024 season with an overall record of 34-22 and a 19-3 mark in conference play, winning the North Star Athletic Association regular season title while finishing second in the NSAA post-season tournament. Bellevue advanced to the NAIA National Tournament for the 11th time in school history.