Eight Lady Raiders Earn Softball All-OAC, Royer Named Player-of-the-Year

Mount Union College placed eight players on the 2008 Softball All-Ohio Athletic Conference Team, including senior pitcher Lindsey Royer (Louisville/Marlington) who was named the Gayle Lauth OAC Player-of-the-Year and John Wells OAC Pitcher-of-the-Year, announced the conference office on Monday, May 5.

Royer (26-4), a four-time First-Team All-OAC selection, set a single season team record with 26 wins in 2008.  She has also struck out 196 batters in 186.0 innings of work and has a 2.13 earned run average.  She also leads the team in batting average (.440) and RBI (44).  For her career, she owns team records  for wins (77) and strikeouts (675).  In addition, Royer is the first Purple Raider to earn the OAC Player-of-the-Year Award.

Also, earning First-Team honors was freshman second baseman Alex Lucak (Maple Heights/Trinity).  Lucak has a .295 batting average with 14 RBI and .960 fielding percentage.

Receiving Second-Team honors was sophomore third baseman Anna Horning (Cuyohoga Falls/Woodridge), sophomore outfielder Meghan Allen (Hartville/Lake), senior outfielder Erin Duignan (Green), senior utility Lee Negrelli (Mentor) and freshman catcher Mara Palombaro (Boardman/Cardinal Mooney).  Sophomore shortstop Meghan Simons (East Rochester/Minerva) earned Honorable-Mention All-OAC status.

Horning is currently batting .391 with 20 RBI, while Allen is second on the team hitting .422 with two homeruns and 22 RBI, Negrelli is hitting .388 with a team-best 12 stolen bases and Palombaro is batting .329 with 13 RBI.

Duignan, a First-Team All-OAC selection in 2006, is batting .309 with 30 RBI and a team-best 14 doubles.  Duignan, a career .347 hitter, is Mount Union's all-time leader in RBI with 116.  

Simons is hitting .364 with four homeruns and 29 RBI.

Head Coach Sandy Douglas and her assistant, Mike Hagy, were named 2008 OAC Softball Coaching Staff-of-the-Year.

Overall, Mount Union (36-8) set a school record for wins in a season (36) en route to its first ever OAC Tournament Championship.  The Raiders also earned a bid to the Division III NCAA Softball Tournament.  Mount Union will compete as the #2 seed in the Rowan, NJ Regional beginning on Thursday, May 8.

Lindsey Royer	Alex Lucak	Erin Duignan
Anna Horning	Meghan Allen	Lee Negrelli
Mara Palombaro	Meghan Simons