Softball | June 27, 2016

Every rebuild needs a cornerstone. Austin Peay State University softball may have its own in Danielle Liermann.

Liermann, a third baseman from Simi Valley, Calif., broke out in a big way in her first season, pacing Austin Peay's offensive attack with a .361 average, 57 hits, 7 home runs, 36 RBI, 89 total bases and a .563 slugging percentage—all team-highs. She was fourth in the Ohio Valley Conference in total bases and RBI, the only freshman to rank in the top five in both categories.

"It was critical for her to get off to such a great start to her career," said head coach Shane Showalter. "When I found her, I knew she would be that caliber of player and someone we could build a program around.

"It does a lot for the current kids to get behind her as a leader and it really helps with our recruiting, to point to Dani as an example of the kind of impact they can make when they come here."

She opened her career with what proved to be the game-clinching RBI against Gardner-Webb, Feb. 12, and hit her first career home run against Mercer a little more than two weeks later.

Liermann posted 18 multi-hit games during the regular season, including three-hit performances against Arkansas Pine-Bluff (March 12), SIU Edwardsville (March 21), UT Martin (April 2) and Jacksonville State (April 23).

Her work as a freshman clearly did not go unnoticed by the coaches in the Ohio Valley Conference. In May, she earned OVC first-team honors and OVC Freshman of the Year, the first by a Governor since 2003 (Lori McCoy) and the first freshman to earn first-team accolades for Austin Peay since 2007 (Daniella Hooper).