May 17, 2007

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IRVING, Texas - Five Conference USA softball players were named to Louisville Slugger/NFCA Division I All-Region teams, the association announced Wednesday. A total of 248 players from 121 different teams comprise the first and second regional teams.

Marshall Thundering Herd catcher and All-Conference USA first team honoree Rachel Folden was chosen for the third straight season on the All-Mideast first team. Folden finished her junior season as the Conference USA leader with a .408 batting average - the highest single-season average of her decorated career. Folden finished as the league leader in slugging percentage (.758), on-base percentage (.560), runs scored (47) and walks (51).The junior is also second among the league's elite in home runs (14), fourth in RBI (47) and eighth in stolen bases (12).

Houston's Angel Shamblin and Jessica Valis earned All-South Region second team honors. This is the fifth consecutive season that Houston has placed at least one player on the NFCA All-South Region Second Team. It also marks the first time in program history that two Cougars were named to the team during the same season.

Shamblin won her second consecutive Conference USA Pitcher of the Year award and has tallied an impressive 29-7 record and a stifling 1.16 ERA. She paces C-USA, racking up 294 strikeouts in 247.1 innings of work. Her 29 wins and 294 strikeouts are not only single season program records but are among the Top 10 nationally.

Valis, the 2007 C-USA Softball Player of the Year, ranks in C-USA's Top 10 in six different categories overall, including batting average, hits, slugging percentage, runs, triples, and on-base percentage. She's also among C-USA's Top 10 in eight different categories in league contests.

Jackie Lawrence of Tulsa garnered All-Midwest Region second team recognition. Lawrence is the only TU pitcher to record two no-hitters in the same season, and the only C-USA pitcher with two this year. She handed No.3 Oklahoma its first loss of the season when she tossed her first collegiate no-hitter on March 7. Lawrence posted eight-straight hits during one stretch in 2007, fourth most in NCAA history, while earning two National Player of the Week and C-USA Hitter of the Week honors after going 14-for-15 the weekend of April 7.

The fifth C-USA honoree, Allison Kime of UCF, is an All-Southeast Region first team member. Kime was also an All-Conference USA first team member at pitcher and ranks fifth in the nation with a 0.87 ERA. Her efforts helped her pitching staff a Top 10 NCAA ranking with a 1.45 ERA. Kime broke UCF's career strikeout record with a no-hitter against Stetson and struck out 10-or-more hitters eight times in 2007. Kime threw a UCF record 12-inning shutout against Florida State, while also notching a record 18 strikeouts.

Chosen by NFCA member coaches from each region, the honorees will now be eligible for selection to the Louisville Slugger/NFCA All-America first, second or third teams. The 2007 Louisville Slugger/NFCA Division I All-American team will be announced on Wednesday, May 30, at 5 p.m. (EST) on the NFCA web site, www.nfca.org.