Seven Ducks Earn All-Pac-10 Softball Honors

Oregon will begin NCAA Regional play on Friday at 1:00 PM against Penn State in Columbia, South Carolina.

Sari-Jane Jenkins from Salem was named to the Pac-10 second team. Photo: goducks.com

EUGENE, Ore. - A record seven members of the Oregon softball were named to the Pacific-10 all-conference team, it was announced today after a vote of the league's eight head coaches.

Freshman shortstop Jenn Salling, a top 11 finalist for USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year, was the only Duck named to the first team and was also voted the conference’s Newcomer of the Year.

Salling is the first Oregon player in the history of the program to win the Newcomer of the Year award and is the first player since Ani Nyhus (2004) to receive first team accolades.

A redshirt freshman from Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, Salling quickly became one of the major offensive forces in the league and the nation, powering an Oregon offense that led the Pac-10 with a .310 batting average.

Salling's .483 batting average trailed only Kaitlin Cochran's in the conference, and is the third-best mark in the nation.

Her Pac-10 leading RBI total of 68 smashed the old Oregon single-season record of 47.

Salling also ranks second in the Pac-10 in on-base percentage (.621), third in slugging percentage (.864), third in runs scored (51), fourth in hits (71), second in triples (5), and seventh in home runs with 12. Her 127 total bases ranks behind only Cochran.

Arizona State outfielder Kaitlin Cochran was named the Pac-10 Conference Softball Player of the Year.

Arizona State's Katie Burkhart was named Pitcher of the Year and Arizona centerfielder Caitlin Lowe received Defensive Player of the Year honors. Coach of the Year was awarded to Arizona's Mike Candrea.

Oregon seniors Suzie Barnes and Ann Marie Topps were named to the Pac-10 second team for the first time in their careers, as was sophomore centerfielder Sari-Jane Jenkins.

Barnes, the Ducks’ starting second baseman, has started 208 consecutive games for Oregon, and is the only player on the roster to play in all 228 games during her career.

She set new single-season records for Oregon with 60 runs scored and 40 stolen bases, both marks also rank second in the Pac-10 this year. This season she is batting a career-best .322 with 59 hits and a .426 on-base percentage.

Topps, in her first season as a regular starter at designated player, broke Oregon’s single-season record with 18 home runs, a mark that currently ties for first in the Pac-10. Her 57 RBIs are third in the conference and her .650 slugging percentage is sixth.

Jenkins enters the postseason on a six-game hitting streak, batting .387 on the year and leading the team with 75 hits.

The Salem, Ore., native has 34 stolen bases on the year with 16 doubles. She leads the team with 22 multiple-hit games and last week batted .636 with four stolen bases in three games against Cal and Stanford.

Junior third baseman Joanna Gail, senior first baseman Kristi Leiter and freshman rightfielder Neena Bryant received honorable mention honors for the first time in their careers.

Gail, voted Oregon’s Defensive MVP by her teammates, homered in her last at-bat of the regular season at Cal last Saturday. She is batting .284 with 42 hits and 26 RBIs. In 59 starts at third base, has just five errors for a .974 fielding percentage and is tied for second in the Pac-10 with 149 assists.

Leiter, a fourth-year senior, enters the postseason with a .279 average in 58 starts at first base. She leads the Pac-10, fielding 29 double plays this year, and for the second time in her career, was named to the ESPN The Magazine All-Academic District VIII team.

Last, but not least, Bryant has been reliable on both offense and defense in her first collegiate season at Oregon.

The Placentia, Calif., native has hit two grand slams this year, in victories over Portland State and Arizona State. Batting .309 from the fifth spot in the lineup, she is third on the team with 44 RBIs and 22 extra-base hits (11 doubles, 10 home runs, one triple). She is entering the postseason on a four-game hitting streak and also has 10 assists from right field.

Oregon will begin NCAA Regional play on Friday at 1:00 PM against Penn State in Columbia, South Carolina.

The game can be heard on KSCR 1320 AM along with a streaming audio broadcast as well as live stats on www.GoDucks.com.

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