May 20, 2010
STARKVILLE, Miss. - The National Fastpitch Coaches Association announced the 2010 Louisville Slugger/NFCA Division I All-Region teams on Thursday, with five student-athletes from Fordham selected to the All-Mid-Atlantic First Team, the most players Fordham has ever gotten on the list. Senior Erin Fisher, juniors Beckah Wiggins and Jocelyn Dearborn, sophomore Jen Mineau and rookie Jamie LaBovick were selected to the list chosen by NFCA member coaches from each region.
All five of the honorees will be eligible for selection to the Louisville Slugger/NFCA All-America first, second or third teams. In addition, conference pitchers and players of the year not selected to the regional teams were added for All-America consideration.
Fordham has only had three other All-Mid-Atlantic First Team honorees with Samantha Pellechio (2009), Katie Davis (2005), Michelle Schlichtig (2003). The Rams have had a total of six players placed on the Mid-Atlantic Second Team. For the three infielders, centerfielder and pitcher, the honor is one of many that have come in for the Rams during the season, which is not over yet as Fordham will take on Maryland in their debut at the NCAA Regionals in College Park, Md., on Friday.
Fisher, LaBovick and Mineau were all named to the Atlantic 10 All-Tournament team on May 15 after the Rams went to their first Atlantic 10 Championship game since 2006. Fisher, Mineau, Wiggins and Dearborn also made the Atlantic 10 First Team, while LaBovick made the second team as a firstbaseman. Wiggins was honored as the Atlantic 10’s Co-Player of the Year, LaBovick earned Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year accolades and Mineau was named the Atlantic 10 Student-Athlete of the Year. Fisher, Mineau and Wiggins were also selected as ESPN The Magazine/COSIDA Academic All-America District I First Team members.
On May 14, Mineau was named a top 10 finalist in the running for the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year. LaBovick was named Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week twice (March 1, April 12) and most recently tied the Atlantic 10 Championship record for RBIs in a game (5) and home runs in a game (2).
Fisher most recently broke Fordham’s all-time career-RBI record (148), the single-season record for home runs (16) and tied Fordham’s career home run record (35). Fisher also had a two home run-game at the A10 Championship, tying the record. Wiggins was recognized in Sports Illustrated’s Faces in the Crowd after she broke the Fordham record for RBI in a game (9) and tied the record for hits in a game (5). She’s also broken the Rams’ record for home runs in a game (3) and total bases in a game (12) and broken Fordham’s single-season RBI record with 58, three short of the Atlantic 10 Conference record.
Mineau, the national leader for strikeouts per seven innings, has broken six of Fordham’s single-season pitching records: strikeouts (470), shutouts (15), wins (32), innings pitched (255.1), games started (38) and is on pace to set the single-season ERA record with 1.04 (as of May 20). Mineau has also broken the strikeouts in a game record four times this season and has had a hand in the 2010 pitching staff breaking Fordham’s team strikeout record.
Dearborn currently leads the team in runs scored (47), hits (65) and triples (3). Dearborn is four doubles away from tying the career doubles record. She is one of three Fordham players to have more than 10 home runs this season with 11 and is third on the team in stolen bases with 14. At the end of the regular season, Dearborn led the team with 23 multi-hit games and led the A-10 in runs, hits and total bases.
Second-ranked Michigan was the only team on this year’s list to place all six of its nominees on the first team. The Wolverines, who head into this weekend’s regional with the No. 2 overall seed, accounted for half of the make up of the first team in the Great Lakes Region.
The NFCA Division I All-American teams will be announced at 4 p.m. CDT on Wednesday, June 2.
Mid-Atlantic Region First Team
P: Jen Mineau (Fordham University)
P: Melanie Mitchell (University of Virginia)
C: Sarah Himan (Radford University)
1B: Jamie LaBovick (Fordham University)
2B: Beckah Wiggins (Fordham University)
3B: Jocelyn Dearborn (Fordham University)
SS: Kristen Shifflett (Radford University)
UT/P: Nicole Koren (University of Virginia)
UT/DP: Jessica Phillips (Binghamton University)
OF: Hope Creasy (Radford University)
OF: Erin Fisher (Fordham University)
OF: Sarah Tacke University of Virginia)
Second Team
P: Tiffany Curtis (Lehigh University)
P: Elizabeth Dalrymple (Cornell University)
P: Emily Jeffery (University of North Carolina, Charlotte)
P: Tiffani Smith (Liberty University)
P: Alyssa Struzenberg (Stony Brook University)
C: Deannie Plemon (Binghamton University)
1B: Julie Fernandez (Lehigh University)
1B: Christa Fullwood (Gardner-Webb University)
2B: Renee Ramos (Boston College)
3B: Alex Schultz (University of Maryland, College Park)
SS: Alyson Intihar (Cornell University)
UT/P: Kasey Karr (Lafayette College)
UT/DP: Kristin Nicoletti (Saint Louis University)
OF: Lauren Fry (Bucknell University)
OF: Shannon Keefe (Radford University)
OF: Jordan Reid (Delaware State University)
OF: Serena Smith (University of North Carolina, Charlotte)
