Bulldogs Represented on All-NSIC Softball Teams
For the second time in as many years, University of Minnesota Duluth junior second baseman Tyra Kerr has secured a spot on the All-Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference first team while three other Bulldogs -- junior center fielder Michaela Goris, sophomore pitcher Megan Mullen and junior pitcher Julia Nealer -- received all-league second team acclaim.
Kerr, a third-year starter and Duluth East High School alumnae, paced the NSIC in hitting (league games only) for the second consecutive year this spring with a .535 batting average (96 points better than her next closest competitor) and is hitting at a team-leading .423 clip overall. She has racked up a 83 hits on the year -- six more than the previous school single-season record which stood for 24 years, and currently sports a 17-game hitting streak.
Goris, who also was chosen to the All-NSIC second team one year ago, is batting .344 and owns the club's best fielding percentage (.986 -- one error in 69 chances) while Mullen, the reigning NSIC Freshman of the Year, has already established a bevy of school-single season records in 2012 including wins (she's 25-12), strike outs (258), appearances (42), starts (33) and complete games (31). She also has eight shutouts to her sophomore year credit, matching the team mark she set one year ago. Nealer, who transferred to UMD this past fall from Iowa Lakes Community College, has compiled a 10-3 record to go with a 1.41 earned run average after spending the first six weeks of the season sidelined with a broken right hand.
The Bulldogs (36-18 overall) will begin Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Tournament play this Thursday (April 26) with an 11 a.m. clash against the University of Mary. The eight-team, double-elimination event runs through Saturday in Rochester, Minn.
