INDIANAPOLIS, IND. ­- It has been a great summer for former softball standout Kylie Maczieswski (Bloomington, Minn./Jefferson) being selected to attend the NCAA Career in Sports Forum in May, being nominated for the prestigious NCAA Woman of the Year award and now earning a NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship. This honor is the first time in St. Catherine University athletics history that any student-athlete has received this distinguished award.

Macziewski graduated in May 2018 a three-time MIAC All-Conference and two-time All-Region selection in softball. Macziewski totaled 190 hits, 37 doubles, 21 home runs and 122 runs scored in 521 career at-bats – all of which represent program records. Additional accolades earned in her four years with the Wildcats are National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) National Player of the Week and named to several All-Tournament teams, including the NFCA DIII Leadoff Classic and NCAA Regional and Super Regional Tournaments in 2017. She was a vital piece in leading St. Kate's softball to its first-ever conference playoff, NCAA Regional and NCAA Super Regional championship as a junior in 2017. Institutionally as a Wildcat, she earned St. Catherine University Athlete of the Week, was a Fleur De Lis and Shelia Brown Wildcat award winner and the NCAA Woman of the Year nominee.

Head softball coach Colleen Powers said, "It is no surprise to me that Kylie would keep achieving after graduating and hanging up her cleats here at St. Kate's! She is so deserving of the honor and the scholarship. She will represent the NCAA and St. Kate's well as she puts it to great use."

Off the field, Macziewski was just as impressive, earning a pair of CoSIDA Google Cloud Academic All-District honors and becoming the first Wildcat ever to earn the MIAC Softball Elite 22 Award when she did so as a sophomore in 2016. Making the Dean's List all four years at St. Catherine, Kylie maintained a 3.88 grade-point average while majoring in exercise and sports science and minoring in psychology and chemistry graduating Magna Cum Laude.  Macziewski was also able to find the time in her schedule outside of the playing field and classroom to volunteer her time in the community as a member of Wildcat Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and helping out at youth softball camps. Kylie plans to use the scholarship towards a Master of Science degree in athletic training from Bethel University in St. Paul, Minn.

To qualify for the NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship, student-athletes must excel academically and athletically, be in their final year of eligibility and plan to pursue graduate study. Student-athletes must also maintain at least a 3.2 grade-point average and be nominated by their institution's faculty athletics representative.  Created in 1964, NCAA postgraduate scholarships promote and encourage education by rewarding the Association's most accomplished student-athletes.

St. Catherine Associate Athletic Director and Senior Woman Administrator Madge Makowske added, "I was thrilled to see Kylie selected as an NCAA postgraduate scholar. In the past, we have always had impressive student-athletes nominated for this award, but Kylie's perseverance, initiative and growth as a leader over the last four years in the classroom, on the field and the community has truly been special to see. In her nomination letter, I commented, "Kylie is a standout without standing out. She is a quiet and determined leader and does not need recognition in order to excel. She will be an extremely positive ambassador for St. Kate's as our first-ever NCAA postgraduate scholarship recipient".

The NCAA awards up to 174 postgraduate scholarships annually. The scholarship awards student-athletes who excel academically and athletically and who are at least in their final year of intercollegiate athletics competition. The one-time non-renewable scholarships of $7,500 is awarded three times per year corresponding to each sport season (fall, winter and spring). Each sports season there are 29 scholarships available for men and 29 scholarships available for women for use in an accredited graduate program. All former student-athletes who earned an undergraduate degree from an NCAA member school are eligible to be nominated by that school for an NCAA graduate degree scholarship, regardless of when they received their undergraduate degree.