L-R's Kat Rivers Named The 2010 NCAA Division II Daktronics Southeast Region Player Of The Year For Softball
May 21, 2010
Four players for the Bears earn first-team all-region accolades
 Lenoir-Rhyne junior shortstop Kat Rivers has been named the 2010 NCAA Division II Daktronics Softball Southeast Region Player Of The Year. |
Milledgeville, Ga. - Lenoir-Rhyne University's Kat Rivers (Royston, Ga.) has been named the 2010 NCAA Division II Daktronics Softball Southeast Region Player Of The Year. All total, seven Bears earned all-region accolades including four on the first team.
Rivers, sophomore catcher Sarah Atkins (Newport News, Va.), senior outfielder Brittany Cherry (Myrtle Beach, S.C.) and freshman pitcher Alex Smith (Cocoa, Fla.) were named to the first team while sophomore pitcher Dawon Millwood (Hixson, Tenn.), sophomore second baseman Carlee Carpenter (Newton, N.C.) and senior designated player Ashley Duckworth (Hickory, N.C.) were chosen to the second team.
Rivers, a junior shortstop, currently leads Lenoir-Rhyne in several offensive categories including batting average (.438) and slugging percentage (.866) and holds the school single-season record for runs (64), hits (88) and total bases (174). Rivers' 22 home runs this year is a South Atlantic Conference record and is tied for the national lead and her 34 career round-trippers is a school mark as well. Rivers, a three-time all-league and two-time all-region honoree, was named the South Atlantic Conference Player Of The Year last month.
Atkins, a two-time first-team all-conference selection (2009-10), broke the school record for runs batted in this year with 63 and is currently hitting .354 with 14 home runs. Atkins also earned the 2010 Food Lion SAC Tournament MVP honors.
Cherry, L-R's all-time leader in hits (267) and doubles (61), is a three-time all-conference honoree also and is batting .360 with a team-leading 22 doubles this season.
Smith currently sports a 25-4 record with a 1.72 earned run average and 112 strikeouts after being named to the 2010 All-SAC Second Team.
Millwood, a two-time all-league pick (2009-10), is 21-3 on the year to go along with a 1.74 ERA and 196 strikeouts. In two seasons, Millwood has a combined 39-7 record.
Carpenter is second on the team in batting average (.390) and slugging percentage (.721) and has garnered all-region accolades for the second straight year. Carpenter was named to the 2010 All-SAC First Team last month.
Duckworth, in her lone season with the Bears, has hit 18 home runs (second-best on the squad) and has driven in 49 runs while starting all 60 games as a designated player.
Lenoir-Rhyne (53-7), ranked No. 8 in the country, faces top-ranked North Georgia (48-0) in the 2010 NCAA Division II Softball Southeast Super Regional Tournament beginning Friday in a best-of-three series at Dahlonega, Ga.
2010 NCAA Division II Daktronics Softball
All-Southeast Region Teams
FIRST TEAM
P: Sarah Phillips, North Georgia
P: Amanda Huckestein, Newberry
P: Alex Smith, Lenoir-Rhyne
C: Sarah Atkins, Lenoir-Rhyne
1B: Katherine Martin, North Georgia
2B: Laura Voyles, North Georgia
3B: Jelena Shaw, UNC Pembroke
SS: Kat Rivers, Lenoir-Rhyne
OF: Lauren Dykes, North Georgia
OF: Brittany Cherry: Lenoir-Rhyne
OF: Pilar Harden, North Georgia
DP: Leslee Smith, North Georgia
UT: Toni Flessate, USC Aiken
SECOND TEAM
P: Michaela Wolf, Francis Marion
P: Dawon Millwood, Lenoir-Rhyne
P: Brittany Blankenship, Wingate
C: Rocky Hemmer, Columbus St.
1B: Ashley Seawell, Mars Hill
2B: Carlee Carpenter, Lenoir-Rhyne
3B: Baillie Temples, Armstrong Atlantic
SS: Holly Berry, UNC Pembroke
OF: Aissa Gatewood, Newberry
OF: Brittney Hatem, Flagler
OF: Chelle Phillips, Francis Marion
DP: Ashley Duckworth, Lenoir-Rhyne
DP: Michaela Wolf, Francis Marion
UT: Larissa Shannon, Erskine
Pitcher of the Year: Sarah Phillips, North Georgia
Player of the Year: Kat Rivers, Lenoir-Rhyne
