NEW ORLEANS – Outstanding Sun Belt softball athletes were honored by the Sun Belt Conference at a pre-tournament banquet tonight by being named to the 2008 Softball All-Conference Teams.  Both the first and second teams consist of two pitchers, a catcher, a first, second and third baseman, a shortstop, designated player and three outfielders.  In addition, four freshmen, five sophomores, six juniors and six seniors were named to the two teams.

Leading the way was regular season champion Louisiana-Lafayette who had seven players named to the All-Conference teams including receiving Player, Pitcher and Newcomer of the Year honors.  Senior Holly Tankersley was named Player of the Year and also First Team All-Conference while freshmen pitchers Ashley Brignac and Donna Bourgeois were honored by being named to the first and second teams respectively.  In addition, Brignac picked up the most prestigious award for a pitcher as she was named the Pitcher of the Year in her first season as a Ragin’ Cajun. 

Joining Tankersley, Brignac and Bourgeois were Louisiana-Lafayette athletes Lana Bowers, who was named first team All-Conference as a catcher, Vanessa Soto, who was named to the first team at second base, Karli Hubbard who was named a second team outfielder and Newcomer of the Year winner, Vallie Gaspard, who was honored as the first team designated player. 

Following Louisiana-Lafayette was Florida International who had five athletes honored.  Leading the way was junior Kim Rodriguez who was named to the first team as an outfielder. Joining Rodriguez was shortstop Monique White who was honored on the second team, Amanda Cox who received second team designated player honors and Jessica Landau and Katie
Bell who were named to the second team in their positions of catcher and third base respectively.  Also, Florida International first year head coach was picked as the Sun Belt Conference Coach of the Year.

In addition to Williams being named first team All-Conference as a pitcher, Troy placed three athletes on the All-Conference teams with Rocky Paige, Courtney Davis and Heidi Johnson all being named to the second team.  Paige was honored at first base, Davis was honored at second base and Johnson was awarded for her performances this season as an outfielder.

In addition, North Texas’ Mallory Cantler and Katya Muller were both named to the first team and first base and shortstop respectively. 

WKU’s Rebecca Horesky, South Alabama’s Evelyne Pare and Florida Atlantic’s Amber Barton rounded out the All-Conference members.  Horesky was named first team at third base, Pare was named first team in the outfield and Barton was named a second team pitcher.

The 2008 Sun Belt Conference Softball Championships begin tomorrow in Troy, Ala.  The action begins with four games at 10 a.m., 12:30 p.m., 3 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. and will conclude with the championship game on Saturday at 3 p.m.  The championship game will be shown live on Comcast Sports Southeast and Cox Sports Television.

In addition, The Sun Belt is offering fans the opportunity to watch all tournament games leading up to the championship via live webstreaming.  Fans can purchase this option by visiting www.sunbeltsports.org.  The cost of the stream is $9.95. 

All tournament scores and recaps will be posted immediately following the conclusion of the games on the Softball Championship Central page.

2008 Softball All-Conference Teams

Pitchers:

1st team: Ashley Brignac (Louisiana-Lafayette, Fr.); Ashlyn Williams (Troy, Fr.)

2nd team: Amber Barton (Florida Atlantic, So.); Donna Bourgeois (Louisiana-Lafayette, Fr.)

Catcher:

1st team: Lana Bowers (Louisiana-Lafayette, So.)

2nd team: Jessica Landau (Florida International, Jr.)

1st Base:

1st team: Mallory Cantley (North Texas, Fr.)

2nd team: Rocky Paige (Troy, So.)

2nd Base:

1st team: Vanessa Soto (Louisiana-Lafayette, Sr.)

2nd team: Courtney Davis (Troy, Sr.)

3rd Base:

1st team: Rebecca Horesky (WKU, Jr.)

2nd team: Katie Bell (Florida International, Jr.)

Designated Player:

1st team: Vallie Gaspard (Louisiana-Lafayette, So.)

2nd team: Amanda Cox (Florida International, Sr.)

Shortstop:

1st team: Katya Muller (North Texas, Sr.)

2nd team: Monique White (Florida International, Sr.)

Outfield:

1st team: Kim Rodriguez (Florida International, Jr.); Holly Tankersley (Louisiana-Lafayette, Sr.); Evelyne Pare (South Alabama, Sr.)

2nd team: Karli Hubbard (Louisiana-Lafayette, Jr.); Corrie Abel (Middle Tennessee, So.); Heidi Johnson (Troy, Jr.)

Player of the Year: Holly Tankersley (Louisiana-Lafayette, Sr.)

Pitcher of the Year: Ashley Brignac (Louisiana-Lafayette, Fr.)

Freshman of the Year: Ashlyn Williams (Troy, Fr.)

Newcomer of the Year: Vanessa Soto (Louisiana-Lafayette, Sr.)

Coach of the Year: Beth McClendon (Florida International)