Francis Marion University athletic officials have announced that former women's softball Academic All-American Cindy Alford and a former two-sport standout (women's basketball and volleyball) on some of the school's first women's athletic teams, LaRue Fields, will be inducted into the FMU Athletic Hall of Fame on Saturday, Feb. 15, 1997.
Alford, a native of Hemingway and a graduate of Pleasant Hill High School, was a four-year letterwinner on the Lady Patriot softball team from 1986 to 1989. She graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. degree in English in 1989. Now a resident of Statesboro, Ga., she is the campus minister intern for the Baptist Student Union and First Baptist Church College Department at Georgia Southern University and currently pursuing a master of divinity degree at the Mercer University School of Theology.
Alford excelled both in the classroom and on the diamond. She was a two-time Academic All-American (1988 and 1989) and twice earned the Patriots Brigade Academic Award, given annually to the Francis Marion student-athlete with the highest grade point average. On the field, she was a three-time NAIA District Six All-District performer (1986, 1988, 1989).
She compiled a career batting average of .326 with 129 runs scored in 167 games. She drove in 63 runs, stole 44 bases (in 49 attempts), and recorded a .969 fielding percentage, while striking out only seven times in 611 career plate appearances. During her career, she played every infield position, catcher, rightfield, and was the designated hitter.
Alford helped lead FMU to a four-year record of 142-35 and three NAIA World Series appearances. In 1987, she batted .342 with 19 runs batted in and 40 runs scored, while the Patriots finished 42-4 and advanced to the NAIA national championship game.
While at Francis Marion, she was an FMU Marshal and a member of Phi Kappa Phi, Omicron Delta Kappa, Dean Moran's Academic Advisory Council, the Baptist Student Union, and the school's Athletic Advisory Council. She earned the President's Award for Outstanding Senior, given by the Student Government Association, and was selected to Who's Who Among Students in American Colleges and Universities.
