Oregon's Salling Named First Team All-Region

Former South Salem star Sari-Jane Jenkins was named to the all-region second team.

Jenn Salling Photo: goducks.com

EUGENE, Ore. - The honors will not stop pouring in for freshman shortstop Jenn Salling.

A day after earning first team, all-Pacific-10 Conference honors and being named Newcomer of the Year, Salling was named to the NFCA Division I all-Pacific Region Team.

Salling, also a top 11 finalist for the USA Softball Collegiate player of the Year, is the first Oregon player to receive first team all-region honors since Lindsey Welch in 1997.

Since that time five other Oregon players have received second team honors.

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.

Oregon also had three additional players named to the all-region second team; including all-Pac-10 selections Joanna Gail, Sari-Jane Jenkins and Ann Marie Topps.

The Ducks’ four all-region selections are the most for the program since 1989. All four players are also now eligible to earn All-American honors.

Gail, the Ducks starting third baseman, was voted Oregon’s Defensive MVP by her teammates and 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.

Jenkins, a sophomore starting outfielder for Oregon, 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.

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.

Oregon is less than 24 hours away from its first game of the 2007 postseason, playing Penn State at 1:00 PM in the Columbia, S.C. regional on Friday afternoon.

The game can be heard on KSCR with Terry Jonz on the broadcast.

Live stats and a streaming live audio broadcast will also be available on www.GoDucks.com.

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