Shelby Pendley Up for Senior CLASS Award

NORMAN – Oklahoma softball's Shelby Pendley has been named one of 30 candidates for the 2015 Senior CLASS Award.

To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character and competition.

An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School, the Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities.

The 30 candidates will be narrowed to 10 finalists later in the season, and those 10 names will be placed on the official ballot. Ballots will be distributed through a nationwide voting system to media, coaches and fans, who will select one candidate who best exemplifies excellence in the four Cs of community, classroom, character and competition.

The Senior CLASS Award winner will be announced during the 2015 Women's College World Series.

A team captain, Pendley is batting .298 this season with three home runs, 15 RBI and 15 runs scored. She is slugging .574 and getting on base at a .477 clip. In addition, the two-time All-American has made eight appearances in the pitching circle with a 3.50 earned run average. She has struck out 22 and walked nine in 22.0 innings of work.

Along with her teammates, Pendley spent a great deal of time in the Oklahoma City metro area in May of 2013 after the area was devastated by multiple tornadoes. She worked at various help stations unloading donations and packing boxes for those in need.

In the classroom, Pendley is majoring in multidisciplinary studies with an emphasis in coaching and leadership. She was named to the 2014 Academic All-Big 12 First Team.