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News Release

Five Retrievers Earn All-Conference Softball Honors

5/7/2008

Stephanie Weigman (above) and Lauren Brummell (below) were named to the America East All-Rookie Team.

ALBANY, N.Y.—Five Retrievers earned post-season softball awards, the America East announced Wednesday evening at the annual awards banquet.

Three players – senior catcher Kali Shirk (North Wales, Pa./North Penn), senior designated player Ashley Gray (Pasadena, Md./Northeast/Delaware State) and sophomore utility player Amanda Fefel (Baltimore, Md./Catonsville) – were selected to the first team, while freshman pitcher Stephanie Weigman (Elkridge, Md./Archbishop Spalding) and freshman outfielder Lauren Brummell (Hanover, Va./Hanover) earned All-Rookie Team nods. In addition, Shirk was named to the All-Academic squad.

Shirk, the reigning America East Player of the Week, is batting .308 on the season with 48 hits, four doubles, five home runs, 30 runs scored. She leads the Retrievers with 20 stolen bases, and she has reached base at a 40 percent clip, second-best on the team. Shirk is even better against conference opponents, as she is batting .368 with all five homers, a .632 slugging percentage and a .449 on-base average in league games. In addition, she leads the America East by throwing out 20 attempted base stealers. Shirk earned All-Academic team recognition by virtue of her 3.54 GPA.

Gray leads the Retrievers with a .350 average, 42 RBI, 10 home runs, a .621 slugging percentage and a .425 on-base percentage, and she leads the America East in RBI and homers. She also has 49 hits, eight doubles and 24 runs scored. In conference play, she is batting .381 with a .746 slugging percentage and a .467 on-base average.

Fefel is batting .327 on the season with five doubles, six home runs and 31 RBI, and she leads the Retrievers with 53 hits. She is slugging .481 on the season and has only struck out 10 times all year.

Weigman is 13-13 with a 2.59 ERA in 157.0 innings in the circle, and she set a new UMBC freshman record with 138 strikeouts this season. She has posted a 1.82 ERA in America East games – third-best in the conference – while holding her league opponents to a .211 batting average.

Brummell leads all Retriever rookies with a .267 batting average, seven doubles, two triples, 17 RBI and 19 runs scored, and she is batting .284 in America East Conference games.

The fourth-seeded Retrievers, who advanced to their third straight America East Championships with a three-game sweep of Maine last weekend, open the double-elimination tournament against three-time defending champion and top-seeded Albany on Thursday at 1 p.m.