VIDEO: Macauley Bailey Interview
AUSTIN, Texas – Carson-Newman junior third baseman Macauley Bailey (Cross Plains, Tenn.) has been named a first-team Academic All-American by the College Sports Communicators, the organization announced Tuesday afternoon.
The junior repeats as an Academic All-American after earning second team honors as a sophomore.
The 2024-25 Academic All-American® Tennis teams, selected by College Sports Communicators, recognize the nation’s top student-athletes for their combined performances on the court and in the classroom.
Bailey touts a 4.0 GPA as a psychology major.
Her selection brings Carson-Newman’s all-time Academic All-America honorees to 81 total. Carson-Newman has had 60 Academic All-Americans in the last 11 years – second-most in the South Atlantic Conference in that span to Wingate.
She joins Jack Browder, John Zhao, and Nick Brenegan of Men’s Basketball, Asger Hartvig of Men’s Swimming; Marnix Van Dalen of Men’s Tennis; and Emma Bowling of Women’s Swimming as the seventh Academic All-American Carson-Newman has produced this year.
Bailey gets the softball program its 12th all-time Academic All-America honor. The program is no stranger to producing two-time honorees. The last four Academic All-Americans the softball program has produced have been two-time honorees with Elayna Siebert (2015-16), Abby Fiessinger (2019-20) and KaraLynne Levi (2020-21) all going back-to-back.
Bailey will have an opportunity to become the program’s first three-time Academic All-America all-time and the fourth in athletic department history with men’s swimmer’s Paden Duke and Asger Hartvig and women’s swimmer Mary Northcutt.
Bailey had a career year, tallying career bests in batting average (.447), hits (67), doubles (13), home runs (18), slugging percentage (.893), and on-base percentage (.506). The junior became the program’s all-time leader on March 1st against Southern Wesleyan with her 36th, and she finishes the 2025 campaign with 48 career home runs. She also became the all-time RBI leader after her third-straight campaign scoring 60 or more. Her single-season batting average ranks 15th all-time in the Carson-Newman softball program history.