Led by senior Jane Purdy (, ), who makes her third appearance on the squad, six softball players have been named to the 2008 GNAC softball academic all-conference team, announced Wednesday by the conference office.
Of the 31 student-athletes in the conference who were named to the squad, six of them, including Purdy, are making their third appearance. Purdy is a biology major with a 3.46 grade point average while leading the Redhawks with a .416 batting average, a .566 slugging percentage, and a .481 on-base percentage.
Junior Heather Hansen () is one of five GNAC players making a second appearance on the team, as she presently carries a 3.38 grade point average while majoring in general science. In 30 games, including 24 starts, Hansen has made only one error in 222 chances for a .995 fielding percentage.
Among the Redhawk players honored for the first time is senior outfielder Brenda Stice (), an English and journalism double major with a 3.21 grade point average. Three sophomores also make the Academic All-GNAC team for the first time: outfielder Katie Petersen (, ), a humanities for teaching major with a 3.74 grade point average, outfielder Katie Antich (), a diagnostic ultrasound major with a 3.47 grade point average, and pitcher Kelsey Reynolds, a pre-major with a 3.39 GPA.
tied with Northwest Nazarene, Montana State Billings, and with six representatives each. All letterwinners who are in at least their second year of competition and have a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.20 are eligible to be selected to the team.
(33-11) and are also tied for the lead in the conference standings with identical 15-5 GNAC records and will meet in a key doubleheader Thursday, May 1, beginning at 2:30 p.m. in Monmouth, Ore.