East Mississippi freshman catcher Abby Roberts named to 2013 NJCAA All-Region 23 Softball Team

SCOOBA – East Mississippi Community College freshman catcher Abby Roberts has been chosen to the 2013 NJCAA All-Region 23 Softball Team.  As selected by the junior college head softball coaches in Mississippi and Louisiana, the 15-member team was announced Thursday.

In addition to ranking second among the NJCAA Region 23 ranks with her .431 batting average, Roberts led head coach Kyndall White's EMCC Lady Lions in slugging percentage (.602) and on-base percentage (.474) this past year as a collegiate rookie.  The former Clarkdale High School standout also tied for the club lead with 29 runs batted in to go along with her team-most 15 extra-base hits, which included 11 doubles, two triples and a pair of home runs.

As the recipient of this year's Best Defensive Player (Golden Glove) honor for the MACJC's North Division, Roberts fielded at a .981 clip behind the plate for EMCC.  The Lady Lions' backstop committed only four errors in 209 total chances on the year.  With her all-region selection, Roberts will now vie for NJCAA All-American consideration.

"Abby's success this season comes from her hard work and dedication to the sport of softball," said EMCC's White, who guided the 24-19 Lady Lions to an MACJC North Division runner-up finish and the program's fifth consecutive appearance in the MACJC State Softball Tournament in her first season at the EMCC helm.  "This is a well deserved honor for Abby because of the way she competes day in and day out as a team leader."  

Other MACJC North Division players making this year's NJCAA All-Region 23 Softball Team were Andrea Cutts (Northeast Mississippi), Kelsey Marter (Holmes) and Jessi Patterson (Itawamba).

State tournament champion and eighth-ranked Jones County fielded a team-high four players on the all-region squad in Samantha Buller, Bethany Volking, Karley Crosby and MaKenzie Hawkins.  Following with two all-region selections apiece were state tourney runner-up and seventh-ranked Mississippi Gulf Coast (Reina Beluia and Lea Kittrell) along with nationally top-ranked LSU Eunice (Kelsey Hollier and Julienne Broussard) and fellow NJCAA Region 23 Tournament participant Pearl River (Whitney Waits and Kelsea Lewis).  Ty Buckley, of East Central, was also named to this year's NJCAA All-Region 23 softball squad.