Lizzie Stiverson from Eastern Illinois softball has been named a third team Academic All-American by College Sports Communicators, becoming the 50th student-athlete in school history to earn this national academic honor.
 
Stiverson, a senior infielder, holds a 3.88 GPA in Exercise Science.  She is the 11th Panther softball player to earn the honor and the first since Stephanie Maday in 2014.
 
On the field Stiverson was instrumental in leading the Panthers to their third straight OVC regular season title and second straight OVC Tournament championship.  She earned Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year honors and was named to the NFCA All-Region team.  At the plate Stiverson hit .373 with 11 doubles, one triple, four home runs and 29 RBI increasing that production to a .470 batting average in OVC play to earn first team All-OVC honors and All-OVC Newcomer Team honors.  She led the team with 22 multi-hit games with three hit games against Southeast Missouri, Saint Louis, Tennessee Tech and UIC.  Stiverson ended the season with hits in both NCAA Tournament games against Oklahoma State and Princeton.

She is the 320th all-time Academic All-American from the Ohio Valley Conference and first this acaademic year (2025-26).