University of Massachusets Athletics
Whitney Mollica Named First-Team ESPN.COM Preseason All-American
February 06, 2007 | Softball
Feb. 6, 2007
AMHERST, Mass. -- Massachusetts sophomore third baseman Whitney Mollica (Windham, N.H.) has been named an ESPN.COM first-team preseason softball All-American it was announced Tuesday afternoon. Mollica is one of just 24 student-athletes to be named to two teams. Last month, Mollica was named to the USA Softball Player of the Year "Watch List."
Mollica had an impressive freshman campaign in which she became the first player in the history of the Atlantic 10 Conference to earn both Player and Rookie of the Year honors in the same season. Mollica, a first-team NFCA All-Region pick and second-team Easton All-American, finished the year with a .394 batting average after hitting over .400 for much of the season. Mollica set a UMass and Atlantic 10 record with 61 RBI while also establishing a school freshman record of 12 home runs. She also had 38 runs scored, 65 hits, 17 doubles, four triples, a 460 on-base percentage, a .764 slugging percentage and six stolen bases. Mollica recorded 19 multi-hit and 19 multi-RBI games on the season and also enjoyed a 13-game hitting streak during the year. She finished the season ranked eighth in the nation in RBI per game, 20th in slugging percentage and 30th in doubles per game.
Massachusetts begins its season this weekend ranked 23rd in the USA Today/NFCA Top 25 poll and 24th in the ESPN.COM/USA Softball Top 25 poll. The Minutewomen leave tomorrow for San Diego, Calif., for the Campbell/Cartier Classic hosted by San Diego State University. UMass will face Cal-Santa Barbara, No. 6/6 Oregon State, San Diego State, No. 10/10 California and Kansas this weekend, all 2006 NCAA Tournament teams.
Live audio and stats of each game will be available free of charge at www.umassathletics.com.