May 16, 2007
ATLANTA – Georgia Tech’s Brittany Barnes, Savannah Brown, Whitney Haller, Caitlin Lever and Aileen Morales were all named to the All-Southeast Region team, announced by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) on Wednesday.
The Yellow Jackets place five players on the all-region team for the first time in school history, and the four first team selections were the most by any school.
Barnes, a junior third baseman from Lawrenceville, Ga., is second in the ACC, third in the country, with 72 runs batted in, en route to being named to the second team. She smashed a career-high 19 home runs, which ranks seventh-best in the NCAA.
Brown, a junior catcher from San Diego, Calif., earns all-region for the second consecutive season, earning second team honors last year and first team honors this year. She connected on 20 home runs this year, sixth in the nation, and drove in an ACC single-season record 74 runs this year for the Jackets.
Haller, a native of Marietta, Ga., earns first team all-region honors for the second consecutive season. The sophomore first baseman drove in 67 runs, third-best in the ACC, and hit .388, fifth-best in the league. Haller tallied 15 home runs this year, and is tied for third all-time in ACC history with 39 dingers in two seasons.
Lever, a senior outfielder from Amherst, N.Y., garners all-region first team honors for the first time in her Jacket career. She led the ACC with a .455 batting average and set a new Tech single-season record with 91 hits, eight shy of the ACC record. She also leads the league with 20 doubles, and has 11 home runs and 67 RBIs this year.
Morales, a junior shortstop, earns all-region first team honors, after being named to the second team in 2005. A native of Columbus, Ga., Morales hit .338 at the leadoff position for the Jackets, scored 70 runs and is second in the ACC with 33 stolen bases, needing just four more to break the Tech all-time record.
The 15th-ranked Yellow Jackets will be the No. 2 seed in the NCAA Gainesville Regional, May 18-20. Tech will face No. 3 seed Texas on Friday at 3:30 p.m. in the opening game of the tournament.
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