Post Season Awards

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LOUISIANA La. - Seniors Brooke Mitchell and Jill Robertson are the latest Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns to be recognized for excelling both on the field and in the classroom.

In 2004, Mitchell became Louisiana's first softball Academic All-American since 1997. Now the Ragin' Cajuns all-time career strikeouts and career victories leader has the chance to earn repeat honors.

Mitchell was named to the 2005 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District VI first team as announced by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) prior to NCAA Regional action.

By rule, Mitchell's selection to the first team makes her eligible for ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American honors which will be announced by CoSIDA on June 2.

UL has had 14 Academic All-Americans since 1990. The last time the Cajuns had back-to-back seasons with at least one Academic All-American was 1996 and 1997. Mitchell's selection last season was the Cajuns' first since 1997.

Mitchell, who received her bachelor's degree in business finance on May 14 and finished her playing career during the 2005 season, carries a 3.481 cumulative grade point average.

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collects her second Academic All-American honor >

LOUISIANA La. - Senior righthanded pitcher Brooke Mitchell of Louisiana was the recipient of many honors in her illustrious career. On Thursday, the Pasadena, Texas, native received one of the highest national honors when she was named a first-team member of the 2005 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America Team.

The Academic All-America program is presented by the College Sports Information Directors of America and voted on by a national panel of over 125 representatives. Award winners are chosen on the basis of the most impressive combination of academic and athletic achievement during the 2004-05 year.

Mitchell is the program's 15th Academic All-American selection and second under co-head coaches Stefni and Michael Lotief. She picked up the second Academic All-American honor of her career after being named a member of the second team as a junior in 2004.

Mitchell joins former Ragin' Cajuns Joni Podhorez, Stephanie DeFeo, Lynn Britton, Alyson Habetz and Melody Mohar as the only players in program history to be named Academic All-America twice in a career.

Mitchell, who received her bachelor's degree in business finance on May 14 and finished her playing career during the 2005 season, carries a 3.481 cumulative grade point average. On May 12, Mitchell was named a member of ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District VI First Team - her third all-district honor.

Mitchell finished off her career in style in 2005 by collecting the 1,000th strikeout of her career and 100th career victory. She posted a 28-7 overall record with a 0.92 ERA and 342 strikeouts during the 2005 season to finish off her career with a record of 119-27 and 1,309 career strikeouts.

The 2005 Sun Belt Conference Pitcher of the Year, she leaves Louisiana-Lafayette as a member of the Top 10 in NCAA Division I history for career strikeouts and victories.

A Top 40 finalist for the 2005 USA Softball Player of the Year and five-time Sun Belt Pitcher of the Week in 2005, Mitchell reached double digit strikeouts in 19 of her 23 complete game performances and tossed the 5th no-hitter in NFCA Leadoff Classic history when she no-hit 2005 NCAA College World Series participant DePaul.

Her achievements are not limited to the field. She has been a fixture on the Sun Belt's Honor Roll (3.0-3.49 GPA) as well as being named an NFCA Scholar Athlete in each of the previous three seasons.

Created in 1952 by CoSIDA, the Academic All-America Teams program is the premier nationwide college scholar-athlete awards program, honoring 816 athletes in NCAA Division I, II and III and NAIA covering all NCAA Championship sports.

LOUISIANA SI

[Hammer58]

Congratulations, Brooke! Once again, thanks for your contributions to UL.

[JMV JustMyView]

Great player both on and off the field. Good luck in your future endeavers..

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Winning 50 games for the fourth time in the last five years, reaching the NCAA Tournament for the 15th time in 16 years and winning yet more Sun Belt Conference regular-season and tournament titles was apparently enough to convince the voters for the All-Louisiana Collegiate Softball Team.

But going 16-1 against Louisiana teams was the icing on the cake for Louisiana's Ragin' Cajun squad, which claimed three of the top awards on the squad announced today by the Louisiana Sports Writers Association.

Pitcher Brooke Mitchell was named Pitcher of the Year, outfielder Danyele Gomez is the Player of the Year and coach Stefni Lotief was honored as Coach of the Year on the squad, which was selected by an LSWA committee based on regular-season performance.

The only top award the Cajuns didn't garner was Freshman of the Year, which went to Jennifer Mango of NCAA Tournament participant Centenary.

Mitchell and Gomez were joined on the first team by Cajun pitcher Heather Bobbitt - giving UL both of the first-team pitching slots - and second baseman Brittany Bryant, while outfielder Jill Robertson was named to the second team and third baseman Tiffany Hebert was an honorable mention selection.

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