April 30, 2008

Five Lopers Selected All-Conference

Gormley Bounces Back from Injury

     Kearney, Neb. – The 2008 All-Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference softball team features five Nebraska-Kearney Lopers, including sophomore first baseman Laura Gormley.

      The league's 12 head coaches vote on the makeup of the team, which was released earlier today.

      Missing all of the 2007 season with injury, Gormley earns second-team honors this year after batting .381 with three homers and 25 RBI's. Heading into the RMAC Tournament, she leads UNK (20-26) in average and is second in RBI's and doubles (seven).

      Defensively, she is one of three starters to have a fielding percentage over .985.

      Earning honorable mention accolades are senior pitcher Amanda Bell (Ft. Collins, Colo.), senior catcher Molly Langerak (Erie, Colo.), freshman third baseman Cassie Keck (Blair) and freshman pitcher Jessie Thomas (Yutan).

      After winning four games last week, Bell now has her record at .500 (12-12) for the year. She has fanned 107 batters in 155 innings pitched this year and currently leads the team in ERA at 4.06.

      Langerak is also a repeat All-RMAC selection. Starting all 91 games the Lopers have played the last two years, she is currently at .336 with five HR's and 19 RBI's. Her career average of .372 currently ranks fifth highest in school history (minimum 250 at-bats).

      Keck is having one of the finest freshman seasons in school history. Leading the Lopers in home runs (nine) and RBI's (28), she also is hitting for a high average (.359) and playing solid in the field (.950 percentage).

     Finally, Thomas is currently 5-9 with a 4.36 ERA and five complete games. All five wins have come against RMAC schools.  Of the nine pitchers chosen All-RMAC this year, only Thomas and Metro State's Libby Balogh are freshmen.

      Regular season champion Colorado School of Mines had the Freshman (catcher Sarah Van Lingen) and Coach (Annie Van Wetzinga) of the Year while Adams had the Player (Heather Ebert) of the Year. Finally, junior Cary Moore of Fort Lewis was named the league's best pitcher.

      Pictured below are Gormley-Bell-Langerak-Keck-Thomas. The complete team can be found at www.rmacsports.org.