Seven PBC Softball Players Named All-American

STARKVILLE, MISS – Seven Peach Belt Conference softball players were named All-Americans by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association on Tuesday. UNC Pembroke’s Brittany Berrier and Francis Marion’s Michaela Wolf were named first-team All-Americans, while USC Aiken’s Jessica Strickland, FMU’s Monica Wofford and GCSU’s Sherquita Bostick were placed on the second team. UNCP’s Jelena Shaw and North Georgia’s Laura Voyles were named third team.

This is the second straight year the Peach Belt has placed seven players on the All-America team. The conference had eight All-Americans in 2006. In all, 47 players from all of Division II were named All-American.

Berrier finished the season batting .400 while leading the team in runs batted in with 46, doubles with 23 and stolen bases with 24. She also set four school season records her senior year whiles also setting five school career records this season. She was also named to the Daktronics All-South Atlantic Region Team on Wednesday as well. The Braves finished the season with a record of 46-14 overall with a 17-1 mark in the Peach Belt Conference en route to earning the program's first conference regular season title, as well as a spot in the NCAA postseason.

Wolf single-handedly sent Francis Marion to the NCAA National Championships in Houston after pitching three straight shutouts in the finals of the South Atlantic Regional tournament. A sophomore from Littleton, Colo., Wolf is the only pitcher in team history with back-to-back 20 win seasons and set a school record for shutouts with 10. Wolf is 28-11 with a 1.61 ERA as she heads to Houston, she led the league in innings pitched and is fourth in strikeouts.

A 5’10” junior from North Charleston, S.C., Jessica Strickland started all 51 games for the Lady Pacers. The junior hit .373 with 14 doubles, seven home runs, and 31 RBI. Strickland also stole 16 bases, had a .596 slugging percentage, and a .412 on-base percentage. With 28 home runs, 110 runs batted in, and 305 total bases, Strickland is now the school’s all-time leader in all three categories. She has a career batting average of .358.

Monica Wofford’s season continues for Francis Marion at the NCAA National Championships. A senior from Myrtle Beach, S.C., Wofford hit .373 with eight home runs and 41 RBIs, all three good enough to be ranked in the top 10 in the Peach Belt. She is also ranked in slugging percentage, on-base percentage, runs scored and total bases. Wofford also holds the NCAA Division II all-time record for hit by pitch with 52 plunks in her career.

Bostick adds this hardware to an outstanding season, featuring Peach Belt Conference (PBC) Player of the Year and PBC Tournament MVP honors. The junior centerfielder hit .379 on the season, smacking seven home runs and 27 RBI while scoring 44 times. She also stole 20 bases and slugged .568 with 18 extra-base hits. She also managed a .500 batting average in conference contests.

Shaw, already the owner of two UNC Pembroke school records, earned all-PBC and Daktronics all-region honors during her freshman campaign in 2007. This season, she batted .381 with 42 RBI, 11 home runs, seven doubles and five triples. She also set a new single season record for total bases with 122 on the year.

Laura Voyles was second on North Georgia’s team and in the Peach belt Conference in batting average at .411. She started all 53 games for the Saints and scored 39 runs while driving in 26. Voyles had 72 hits on t he year, including 13 doubles, three triples, and six home runs. She had a .623 slugging percentage and a .939 fielding percentage. Ranked in the PBC top 10 in slugging percentage, runs, hits, doubles and triples.