Tusculum’s Rakes, Catawba’s Justice Named SAC Baseball, Softball Scholar-Athletes

ROCK HILL, S.C. - Tusculum's Taylor Rakes and Catawba's Alli Justice, a pair of student-athletes who excel in all walks of campus life, have been selected as the 2012 SAC Baseball and Softball Scholar-Athletes of the Year, it was announced on Wednesday.

Rakes was chosen for the baseball Scholar-Athlete award, while Justice was named the softball honoree. The Scholar-Athlete awards, which are voted on by the SAC's Faculty Athletic Representatives, recognize a combination of academic achievement, athletic excellence, service and leadership.

Rakes, a junior pitcher for the SAC regular-season champion Pioneers, came back from Tommy John surgery in 2011 to go 8-1 this season with a 3.56 ERA. His eight wins were second-most in the conference during the regular season.

The Norcross, Ga., native currently carries a 3.88 cumulative GPA majoring in economics & international business, business administration and general management.

Rakes is a multi-year selection to the SAC Commissioner's Honor Roll, the Tusculum Athletic Director's Honor Roll, the Tusculum Dean's List, Tusculum President's List and the Charles Oliver Gray Honor List. He is also a member of the Alpha Chi Honor Society, which recognizes the top 10-percent of students in each class at TC.

An active presence on campus, Rakes is involved with numerous groups and activities that include the Tusculum Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, the TC Business Club, campus service-learning classes and the TC homecoming week. He was also a participant in last summer's inaugural SAC Leadership Conference.

Rakes spends time giving back to his community as well. During his time at Tusculum, he has volunteered at the Greene Valley Development Center, the Make-a-Wish Foundation and local soup kitchens. He has served as a youth baseball mentor in Greeneville, and also provided free lawn care for stationed armed forces personnel.

"Taylor has been a part of our program for four years and has been a model citizen ever since he stepped on campus," said TC coach Doug Jones. "Taylor is a very goal-oriented person in everything he does."

Justice, meanwhile, hit .281 with 14 extra-base hits at first base during the regular season for Catawba, helping the Lady Indians earn the No. 2 seed in the upcoming Food Lion SAC Softball Championship.

A communications major, Justice holds a 3.96 GPA and is a two-time NFCA Scholar-Athlete. The senior has been a member of the SAC Commissioner's Honor Roll, the Catawba President's Honor Roll, the Catawba Dean's List and the Alpha Chi Honor Society.

She is a founding member of the Lambda Phi Eta Communications Honor Society, and is a previous recipient of the Karl Hales Award for Excellence in Communications.

Away from campus, Justice volunteers with the Atlantic General Hospital, the Global Literacy Project, Youth Exercise Services, Habitat for Humanity, Knox Middle School and Lady Shorebird ASA softball.

Justice is also a visible member of the Catawba community, serving on the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and with the Dean's List dinners. In addition, she organized Catawba's first "Strike-Out for Cancer" softball event in 2011, helping the event raise $3,000 for the American Cancer Society.

"Alli exemplifies the definition of a student-athlete," said her coach, Nan Whitley. "She has always showed great leadership abilities and has great character traits."