Charleston Southern's Annah Junge Voted 2023-24 Big South Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) – Charleston Southern softball pitcher
Annah Junge (Ballwin, Mo.) has been voted the 2023-24 Big South Conference Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year, it was announced today by the league office. The annual Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year is voted on by the Big South Sports Information Directors from a pool of each sport’s Scholar-Athlete winner during the past season.
Junge is the first Charleston Southern female athlete to be honored in the award’s history (since 1995-96). In 2024, she became just the second three-time Big South Softball Scholar-Athlete of the Year honoree in league history, and earned a 4.0 grade-point average while working on her master’s in Biology. Junge, who finished her undergraduate career with a 4.0 GPA in Chemistry, appeared in 26 games and made 22 starts in 2024 and finished the year with a 7-11 record, 3.67 earned run average, seven complete games, three shutouts and 82 punchouts in 114.1 innings pitched. She helped the Buccaneers clinch a berth in the 2024 Softball Championship, and became the program’s all-time strikeout leader with her 440th career strikeout on March 15 against Wofford. During the season, Junge threw a complete game 3-hitter with six Ks against UMass Lowell on Feb. 17, and tossed back-to-back complete games against Northern Kentucky (March 3) and UMBC (March 7) -- which included a season-high eight strikeouts against the Retrievers. The 2023 All-Conference honoree finished her CSU career with 48 wins, 479 strikeouts (school record), 624.0 innings pitched, 123 total appearances, 95 games started in the circle, and 56 complete games.
In the voting, Junge finished with 31 points (five first-place votes), followed by UNC Asheville volleyball player
Ona Elkins (18 points, one first-place vote). Gardner-Webb tennis player
Emilia Roslund (one first-place vote) and CSU soccer player
Dakota Fiedler tied for third with 14 points each.
The Big South Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year award began in 1995-96, and the annual recipients are listed below.
FEMALE SCHOLAR-ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
1995-96 - Angela Murphy, Coastal Carolina (cross country)
1996-97 - Angela Murphy, Coastal Carolina (cross country)
1997-98 - Jolene Williams, Coastal Carolina (track & field)
1998-99 - Jolene Williams, Coastal Carolina (track & field)
1999-00 - Jolene Williams, Coastal Carolina (track & field)
2000-01 - Jeanne Lambert, Coastal Carolina (volleyball)
2001-02 - Kara Koppel, Coastal Carolina (track & field)
2002-03 - Kara Koppel, Coastal Carolina (track & field)
2004-05 - Danielle McNaney, Liberty (track & field)
2005-06 - Leslie Cook, High Point (basketball)
2006-07 - Leslie Cook, High Point (basketball)
2007-08 - Felicitas Mensing, Coastal Carolina (track & field)
2008-09 - Megan Frazee, Liberty (basketball)
2009-10 - Jill Nyhof, Coastal Carolina (volleyball)
2010-11 - Chelsea Kelley, Radford (softball)
2011-12 - Jane Savage, Gardner-Webb (softball)
2012-13 - Megan Rhodes, Radford (soccer)
2013-14 - Shaela Churchill, Campbell (softball)
2014-15 - Teresa Williamson, Radford (track & field)
2015-16 - Ashley Rininger, Liberty (basketball)
2016-17 - Kelsey Rea, Campbell (track & field)
2017-18 - Mackenize Koeller, Campbell (lacrosse)
2018-19 - Jessica Wollmann, Radford (soccer)
2019-20 - Camryn Brown, High Point (basketball)
2020-21 - Carrie Reaver, Longwood (soccer)
2021-22 - Grace Volk, UNC Asheville (volleyball)
2022-23 - Jessica Donald, Campbell (soccer)
2023-24 - Annah Junge, Charleston Southern (softball)