Three named to All-Great Lakes Region softball teams
05/16/2007 | 12:00:00 | Softball
May 16, 2007
By Matt Crouch
www.SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. - For only the third time in the program's history, the Southern Illinois University softball team placed three players on the All-Great Lakes Region softball teams.
Freshman Alicia Garza leads the way for the Salukis as a first-team selection. Senior Cassidy Scoggins and sophomore Jayme Wamsley follow up with second-team honors.
Southern is one of only two Missouri Valley Conference teams represented in the Great Lakes Region selections as Illinois State also picked up three honorees.
Among other Valley schools, Creighton had one selection to the All-Midwest team while Wichita State picked up two.
Garza, a native of Lafayette, Ind., leads Southern Illinois at the plate this season with a .367 (62-for-169) average. She has 13 doubles, two triples and five home runs with 33 RBI. Her 13 doubles are tied for fourth all-time at SIU in single-season doubles.
Scoggins, a native of Owasso, Okla., is the nly repeat honoree this year as she was a first-team selection the past two years. She is one of only two players all-time at Southern Illinois to reach that mark. The other was Amy Harre, who was a four-time All-Region selection.
Scoggins has a 1.80 ERA this season with 209 strikeouts in 213.1 innings pitched with a .193 opponent batting average. She has eight solo shut outs and two no-hitters this season, one of which was against SIU's first-round opponent in this weekend's NCAA Tournament (Missouri).
Her 209 strikeouts are the sixth-most in single-season strikeouts in SIU's history and her 21 wins this season rank in a tie for sixth all-time at SIU in single-season wins.
Rounding out the All-Region award winners is Wamsley, a native of Hermitage, Tenn. She has a .313 (46-for-147) average with 10 doubles and 10 home runs. She also has 41 RBI, which ranks in a tie for fourth all-time at Southern Illinois in single-season RBI.
Wamsley has also been error-free with 197 put outs while playing behind the plate for the Salukis this season.
The only other times that SIU has had three selections to the All-Region team were in 2005 (Cassidy Scoggins, Krystal Stein, Amy Harre) and 1991 (Colleen Holloway, Shannon TAylor, Cheryl Venorsky).
The nationally-ranked Saluki softball team returns to action this weekend as they host the NCAA Carbondale Regional Tournament. SIU will take on Missouri at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, May 18 at Charlotte West Stadium.
