LEXINGTON, Ky. ? Sophomore Natalie Smith has been tabbed a pre-season All-SEC second team member as voted on by league coaches it was announced Wednesday.
Smith was elected a member of the All-SEC Freshman team a year ago after batting .370, second-best on the team. As a freshman she also finished in the top-two statistically on the team in triples, stolen bases, at-bats, hits, runs scored and sacrifice bunts. Smith racked up 18 multiple hit games and enjoyed the team?s longest hitting streak of nine games.
This season, she is batting .294 through 10 games. She smacked a career-high four hits, including two doubles in UK?s first loss to #15 Hawai?i a week ago.
The SEC unveiled its first softball coaches preseason All-SEC team, Wednesday, to highlight another upcoming season of SEC softball. A first team and second team were chosen. Alabama led all schools with four first team selections, seven overall. Alabama?s Brittany Rogers and Florida?s Kim Waleszonia were unanimous selections. The coaches preseason All-SEC team consists of a minimum of 12 players. Each SEC Head Softball Coach voted for four infielders, four outfielders, two pitchers, one catcher and one dp/utility player. No ties were broken.
Kentucky will next be in action Sat. and Sun., Feb. 23-24. UK will host Toledo for a three-game set, for the season?s home opener at the UK Softball Complex. First pitch on both days is slated for 1 p.m. Complete coverage of the Wildcats can be found at www.ukathletics.com.
Preseason All-SEC First Team
Charlotte Morgan, Alabama IF
Lauren Parker, Alabama IF
Courtney Bures, Mississippi State IF
Tonya Callahan, Tennessee IF
Brittany Rogers, Alabama# OF
Kim Waleszonia, Florida# OF
Jazz Jackson, LSU OF
Rachel Mitchell, LSU OF
Stacey Nelson, Florida P
Dani Hofer, LSU P
Chelsea Bramlett, Mississippi State C
Jordan Praytor, Alabama DP/UT
Preseason All-SEC Second Team
Kelly Montalvo, Alabama IF
Natalie Smith, Kentucky IF
Lauren Grill, Ole Miss IF
Tiffany Huff, Tennessee IF
Jessica Bachkora, Arkansas OF
Mary Ratliff, Florida OF
Hayle Guess, Mississippi State OF
Jessica Josker, South Carolina OF
Chrissy Owens, Alabama P
Anna Thompson, Auburn P
Killian Roessner, LSU C
Shannon Doepking, Tennessee C
Dani Woods, Alabama UT/DP
#-Unanimous Selection; Ties were not broken
