May 14, 2008

Jherica Williams, a senior outfielder on the Wright State softball team, has been selected First Team All-Great Lakes Region, it was announced on Wednesday.

Williams, the Horizon League Player of the Year, is hitting .476 on the season with 17 home runs and 73 RBI along with 16 doubles, five triples and 56 runs scored. She won the Batting Award at the Horizon League Tournament last week as she hit .556 in four games, helping WSU win its second straight tournament title and advance to the NCAA Regionals.

A three-time Horizon League Player of the Week honoree in 2008, Williams is currently ranked in the top 10 nationally in four categories, including leading Division I in runs batted in per game at 1.28. She is second in batting average, second in slugging percentage at .929 and sixth in on-base percentage at .572.

Williams, who appeared in the Faces in the Crowd section of the May 5 issue of Sports Illustrated, compiled a 26-game hitting streak earlier this season and has collected a hit in all but eight games in which she has had an at bat in. She has 26 multi-hit and 23 multi-RBI games, including 11 of three or more RBI.

Williams is the sixth Raider ever to be named All-Region, joining Angie Lala (1997), Amber Kolle (1999), Michelle Demmitt (1999), Annie Divac (2000) and Nikki Scott (2001). Lala and Kolle, like Williams, were selected to the First Team while Demmitt, Divac and Scott were chosen to the Second Team.

Head coaches from the Big Ten Conference, Mid-American Conference and Missouri Valley Conference along with the Horizon League select the All-Great Lakes Region teams.

Williams is now eligible for the All-America teams, which will be selected during the College World Series later this month.

Wright State takes a 33-24 mark into the NCAA Regionals, which begin on Friday, May 16, as the Raiders take on Michigan (48-6) at 7:00 at the Wilpon Softball Complex in Ann Arbor.