San Antonio – Malissa Magee was named Heartland Conference Pitcher of the Year for the third straight season and eight other St. Mary’s University softball players earned all-conference honors it was announced by the conference office on Tuesday.

Magee (Jr., Houston) became the first player to earn HC Pitcher of the Year honors three times, edging out Jennifer Bishop of St. Edward’s University for this year’s award. This season Magee is 27-8 with a 0.68 ERA, 26 complete games and 15 shutouts. She has thrown 226.0 innings, allowing just 22 earned runs on 115 hits and 39 walks, while striking out 263. She was named Heartland Conference Tournament MVP and was HC Pitcher of the Week five times this season. She has tossed two no-hitters this season and six one-hitters. She tossed a two-hit complete-game shutout in the Heartland Conference Tournament Championship against St. Edward’s. In addition to being Pitcher of the Year, she was one of two first team All-HC pitchers.

Two other Rattlers earned first team All-Heartland honors. Kelcy Walker (Jr., San Antonio) earned first team honors at catcher.  Walker is the leading hitter on the team and second in the Heartland Conference with a .396 batting average. She has 13 doubles, three triples, 10 homeruns, 46 RBI, 49 runs scored, a .686 slugging percentage and a .472 on-base percentage. Her 49 runs scored lead the Heartland Conference.She has been named Heartland Conference Hitter of the Week twice this season. Walker has been especially hot at the end of the season batting .523 (23-44) over the last 13 games.

Also earning first team honors at designated player was Lindsay Barnes (Jr., San Antonio). She is the second leading hitter on the squad with a .353 batting average, four doubles, 15 homeruns (1st in the HC), 56 RBI, a .647 slugging percentage and a .410 on-base percentage. She was named Heartland Conference Hiiter of the Week once this season. She leads the Rattlers in homeruns with 15 and had a streak of five straight games with a homerun. Barnes helped lead the Rattlers to the Heartland Conference Tournament title, with a three-run homerun in the championship game.

Earning first team at-large honors was third baseman Mary K Pederson (Jr., Houston). Pederson is one of the top defensive third basemen in the region with .951 fielding percentage at the hot corner. She has been equally strong at the plate with a .299 batting average and .410 on-base percentage. She has 11 doubles, a triple, 23 RBI and 39 runs scored this season. Her 32 walks lead the team and the Heartland Conference and is one of the top totals in the nation. She saved her best play for last though, going a combined 6-of-11 with two doubles, an RBI and four runs scored for the Rattlers as St. Mary’s won the Heartland Conference Tournament Championship.

Five Rattlers earned second team All-Heartland honors: Brittany Kettinger (Jr., Azle), Lindsay Magaro (Sr., Elmendorf), Jenna Saucedo (So., Elmendorf), Sarah Cooper (Jr., Houston) and Sade Moore (So., Angleton).

Kettinger is one of the top two-way players in the region, going 12-7 with a 1.74 ERA, 13 complete games and seven shutouts on the mound, while hitting .292 with six doubles, two triples, 18 RBI and 18 runs scored at the plate. The honor marked the second straight season she has been named All-Heartland.

Magaro took full advantage of her first season as a starter for the Rattlers. She played in 57 games at first base, hitting .272 with eight doubles, 17 RBI and 17 runs scored. She had a strong .988 fielding percentage in 418 chances. She had 10 multiple hit games and brings a five-game hitting streak into the regional tournament next week. She went a combined 6-of-13 with three RBI and two doubles over the final four games of the season.

Saucedo recovered from a mid-season injury that held her out for three weeks to be one of the top infielders and hitters in the Heartland Conference. She is batting .343 with seven doubles, a triple, a homerun, 11 RBI and 22 runs scored this season. She also has a strong .954 fielding percentage. Saucedo saved her first homerun of the season for a good time, smacking it in the championship game of the Heartland Conference Tournament. She went a combined 5-of-9 with three runs scored and two RBI in the Heartland Conference Tournament and had a perfect fielding percentage to help St. Mary’s to the title.
 
Moore worked her way into the starting lineup for the first time this season and quickly developed into one of the top infielders in the HC. She started the season in the outfield before moving to shortstop. She is one of the top hitters on the squad with a .315 average, four triples, six RBI and 16 runs scored. Since moving to shortstop at midseason, she has been the second leading hitter on the team with a .379 average, four triples, five RBI and 13 runs scored. Her two-run triple keyed the Rattlers 7-1 win over #17 St. Edward’s in the Heartland Conference Tournament semifinals.

After winning the Heartland Conference Tournament, the Rattlers are 42-16 overall this season and have won 17 of their last 19 games. The Rattlers will now wait for the NCAA Division II postseason selections. St. Mary’s clinched the Heartland Conference’s automatic berth into the South Central Region Tournament with the tournament title. Selections are announced on Monday, May 7 at 8 a.m. The South Central Region Tournament will be played on May 10-14 at a site to be announced.

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