Courtesy of Maine Sports Information
ORONO, Maine ? Three members of the University of Maine
softball team, including sophomore Christine McGivney, junior Ashley Waters, and
recent graduate Marguerite Soule, were honored this week as 2007 National
Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Academic All-Americans. To be given the
honor, student-athletes in the sport of softball must achieve a grade point
average of 3.5 or above during the spring season. In addition to those three
individual honors, the Black Bears finished in the top third of over 400
collegiate teams nationally for overall team GPA.
“Placing three
on the NFCA Academic All-America team is a great honor for our program,” Maine
head coach Stacey Sullivan said. “As a team, we strive to be just as successful
in the classroom as we strive to be on the field. Having three players named to
the academic all-america team demonstrates the hard work our kids put in the
classroom.”
As a true
freshman pitcher last spring, McGivney led the team in ERA (3.68) and complete
games pitched (8). Waters led the team in doubles (10), runs batted in (29) and
slugging percentage (.478). Soule was the team’s primary starting catcher, as
she drove in six runs on the season.
Overall last
spring, 12 members of the team earned GPAs of 3.0 or better and were named to
the America East Academic Honor Roll.
This year’s
academic accomplishments follow 2006’s accomplishment of the Black Bear softball
team finished 17th nationally in overall team GPA.