June 19, 2010

Radford's Shifflett and Dean, Virginia's Mitchell and Longwood's Short Garner Top Honors as Part of the VaSID University Division All-State Softball Team

LYNCHBURG, Va. - The top honors on the 2010 VaSID University Division All-State Softball Team were evenly split amongst three Commonwealth programs, spotlighted by Radford's Kristen Shifflett being named Player of the Year, as announced by the Virginia Sports Information Directors (VaSID) today.

2010 VaSID University Division All-State Softball Team

Virginia's Melanie Mitchell was tabbed the Pitcher of the Year, while newcomer Brooke Short of Longwood was selected Rookie of the Year. Shifflett's skipper, Mickey Dean, rounded out the top accolades, as he was named VaSID Coach of the Year for the second-straight year.

Shifflett (Jr., Charlottesville, Va.) is making her third-straight appearance on a VaSID all-state team, and second on the first-team listing. The Big South Player of the Year led her league in batting average (.426), runs (58), hits (78) and stolen bases (23), to go along with a team-best 15 home runs and 42 RBIs.

Mitchell (Fr., Oakton, Va.) helped Virginia to its first-ever NCAA Regional appearance by setting a new school standard for individual victories (27). The first-team All-ACC and All-Region honoree fanned 295 batters in 286.2 innings of work, while tossing 34 complete games and posting a 2.86 ERA.

Short (Fr., Altavista, Va.) started all 52 games during her rookie campaign for the Lancers, helping her earn NCAA Division I Independent Co-Freshman of the Year honors. She led Longwood in batting average (.436), home runs (13), triples (6), slugging percentage (.808), on-base percentage (.532) and was tied for the team lead with 42 RBIs.

Shifflett, Mitchell and Short each hait from the Commonwealth of Virginia, marking the third time in the last five seasons VaSID's top honors have been swept by Virginia natives.

For the second year in a row, Dean has been tabbed the VaSID Coach of the Year, after posting a 38-17 overall record and winning a Big South-record 16 conference contests. The Radford head coach guided his squad to the NCAA Regionals for the second time, where he led his team to the Regional Finals before falling to eventual NCAA College World Series semifinalist Georgia.

All in all, 22 players were named to the first and second team all-state listings, including 10 student-athletes who had notched a spot on previous all-state squads.

For the third year in a row, the Highlanders paced the way on the all-state team listings, as Radford had seven student-athletes honored, including five first-team selections. Liberty and Longwood followed with four selections apiece, while Virginia and James Madison each had a trio of honorees. A second-team selection for Hampton rounded out the 22-player listing.

VaSID was formed in 1983, and is comprised of sports information professionals from NCAA Division I, II, III, NAIA and independent institutions from the state of Virginia. The purpose of the organization is to promote college athletics at all four-year institutions.  For more information, please visit the VaSID website http://www.ferrum.edu/athletics/vasid/.