May 7, 2008

FRISCO - The Texas State softball team added a bevy of individual honors to its 2008 regular season title on Thursday as eight Bobcat players were named All-Southland Conference and Ragan Blake was named the SLC Player of the Year.

McKenzie Baack was voted Hitter of the Year while Ricci Woodard earned Coach of the Year honors, and Blake also took home the Pitcher of the Year award. Baack hit .400 in conference play and finished the year with a .348 average while also leading the Bobcats with eight home runs and 24 RBIs. She is the third Texas State player to win the award and first since Kristen Zaleski captured back-to-back Hitter of the Year honors in 2003 and 2004.

Blake won her second straight Pitcher of the Year honor after going 20-10 with a 2.26 ERA and 183 strikeouts in 191.2 innings. She joins Katie Ann Trahan as the only Bobcat players to win both SLC Player and Pitcher of the Year in the same season.

Woodard's Coach of the Year award is the third in her eight seasons at Texas State. The Bobcats defeated a pair of nationally ranked teams and finished with their second-highest win total in SLC play after a 35-17 regular season record and 25-5 mark in league play.

In addition to her individual awards, Blake was the lone Texas State representative on the All-SLC First Team, but six Bobcats were voted to the All-SLC Second Team. Leah Boatright tied Baack for the team lead in RBIs and tallied 13 doubles while batting .368 in conference at first base while Ali McCormack hit .327 with four homers and 16 RBIs against SLC opponents.

Alex Newton also earned All-Conference honors by being named to the Third-Team, hitting .359 with 17 RBIs and five stolen bases while starting all 30 SLC games at shortstop.

Texas State led all teams with eight All-SLC selections. Texas-Arlington placed four players on the three All-SLC teams while Stephen F. Austin and UTSA each had four. Individually, Stephen F. Austin's Monika Covington won Freshman of the Year after leading the league in strikeouts with 232, Jenny Clay of McNeese State was named Utility Player of the Year after hitting .382 and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi's Kim Connelly was named Newcomer of the Year after hitting .357 with 38 RBI in the regular season.

The Bobcats begin their quest for even more hardware with the 2008 Southland Conference Tournament that begins Thursday, May 8. Texas State will play Friday, May 9, at 6:30 p.m. in one of two semifinal games while the title game will be Saturday, May 10, at 4 p.m. The winner receives the Southland Conference's automatic berth in the NCAA Softball Championship Tournament.

2008 All-SLC Softball First Team

1B - Jessica Tullos, Stephen F. Austin
2B - Rudi Cantu, UTSA
3B - Heather Sherrill, Southeastern La.
SS - Kat Harrell, Nicholls State
C - Samantha Chumchal, UT Arlington
OF - Katie Jones, UT Arlington
OF - Hailey Wiginton, Sam Houston State
OF - Kim Connelly, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
DP - Jenny Clay, McNeese State
P - Ragan Blake, Texas State
P - Monika Covington, Stephen F. Austin

2008 All-SLC Softball Second Team

1B - Leah Boatright, Texas State
2B - Danielle Clayton, Nicholls State
3B - Ali McCormack, Texas State
SS - Amanda Swofford, UT Arlington
C - Ashton Peters, Texas State
OF - Kendal Harper, Stephen F. Austin
OF - Jetta Weinheimer, Texas State
OF - Kristina Tello, Texas State
DP - McKenzie Baack, Texas State
P - Cara Hulme, UT Arlington
P - Danye Holmes, UTSA

2008 All-SLC Softball Third Team

1B - Amy Thibodaux, Nicholls State
2B - Arica Rodriguez, Southeastern La.
3B - Whitney Simpson, UT Arlington
SS - Alex Newton, Texas State
C - Kim Daley, Stephen F. Austin
OF - Leanne Risberg, UTSA
OF - Cary Bruno, Northwestern State
OF - Megan Beard, McNeese State
DP - Danye Holmes, UTSA
P - Rachel Ray, Southeastern La.
P - Morgan Mikulin, Sam Houston State

Player Of The Year - Ragan Blake, Texas State
Hitter Of The Year - McKenzie Baack, Texas State
Pitcher Of The Year - Ragan Blake, Texas State
Coach Of The Year - Ricci Woodard, Texas State
Utility Player Of The Year - Jenny Clay, McNeese State
Newcomer Of The Year - Kim Connelly, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
Freshman Of The Year - Monika Covington, Stephen F. Austin