BOSTON, Mass. – For the first time since 2015, a student-athlete from the Wentworth Institute of Technology softball program has been named an Academic All-American. Graduate student Kaitlin Pettenger (Budd Lake, N.J.) was named to the 2024 Academic All-America® Division III Softball Team, as selected by the College Sports Communicators (CSC) and announced by the organization this afternoon. Pettenger represents the Leopards and the entire Commonwealth Coast Conference as a member of the Second Team.
The 2024 Academic All-America® Division III Softball Teams recognize the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performances in athletic competition and the classroom.
An Architecture major, Pettenger becomes Wentworth's 13th Academic All-American since 1995 and is the first softball student-athlete to earn the prestigious honor since 2015 when Sam Curran '15 was named the Division III Academic All-America of the Year in softball, her third Academic All-American accolade.
Pettenger etched her name further into the program's record books in her fifth campaign while helping the Black & Gold to a 25-19 season that included their second straight appearance in the CCC Tournament's semifinal round. The graduate student was named an NFCA All-Region honoree and the CCC Player of the Year while batting .409 at the plate with 54 hits, including 10 doubles and two triples, and holding a .561 slugging percentage and a .506 on base percentage that ranked second conference-wide. Meanwhile, her 45 runs scored and 24 stolen bases both ranked first in the CCC. Pettenger was also named the CCC Scholar-Athlete of the Year and was a first team All-CCC selection.
Pettenger is among the all-time greats to wear the Black & Gold, ranking first in the following statistical categories: games played (148), runs scored (139), hits (193), triples (19), total bases (287), and stolen bases (54). Her .388 batting average and .469 on base percentage each rank second. In addition to this season's accolades, the outfielder was named NFCA All-Region and an NFCA/Easton All-America Scholar-Athlete a season ago. The graduate student has been named to the All-CCC First Team each of the last two seasons prior to 2024 after being named to the Second Team as a freshman. Pettenger was also one of the CCC's six nominees for NCAA Woman of the Year in 2023.
Off the field, Pettenger served on the athletics' student-athlete advisory committee's (SAAC) executive board and continued the club's connection with Special Olympics Boston by helping host a sports clinic as one of the many events she helped coordinate. Within her major, Pettenger served as her team's lead on their community design studio project in 2023 and was a part of the Wentworth Design Review club, most recently serving as the club's treasurer. Pettenger took leadership seriously during her time as a Leopard, earning the Women at Wentworth Undergraduate Leadership Certificate in 2023 after a multi-year learning pathway that spanned four years. In 2023, Pettenger earned the Leading Leopard Award, presented for leadership of a club, organization, or sports team, and was also the recipient of the Leopard of the Year award.
In the classroom, Pettenger made the Dean's List every semester since 2020. In 2023, Pettenger was a recipient of the Beatty Award, presented to the student with the highest academic achievement at graduation, and the Alumni Award, presented to the student with the highest grade-point-average in their respective major. Following the spring semester of the 2023-2024 academic year, Pettenger held a 3.72 grade-point-average while obtaining her Master's degree in Architecture.
The CSC Academic All-America® program separately recognizes honorees in four divisions — NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III and NAIA.
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