June 9, 2009

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Kentucky softball’s incoming class has enjoyed successful ends to their careers as they wrapped up their senior seasons of high school this spring. Alice O’Brien was a state champion at Riverdale High School in Murfreesboro, Tenn., while Kara Dill from LaGrange, Ohio, finished her career at Keystone High School as the most prolific offensive player in school history.

O’Brien helped lead Riverdale to the state title in Tennessee. In the state tournament, O’Brien batted .300 with a home run and three RBI. She swiped a base and tallied four sacrifice hits during her plate appearances. Her slugging percentage came in at .650 with an impressive on-base percentage of .381. Additionally, O’Brien hauled in a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage in helping lead her team to the crown.

Additionally, O’Brien was named the District 7AAA Most Valuable Offensive Player of the Year in addition to her first-team All-District honors. O’Brien was also a member of the All-District Tournament team. Other honors include a spot on the Middle Tennessee Softball Coaches Association AAA All-Tennessee First team and the MTSCA All-Star South team.

Dill capped her career as Keystone’s best hitter in school allure. Her career batting average is an astounding .565. She also broke the school record with 218 career base hits. As a senior she batted .545 with 38 runs scored, 19 RBI, and 23 extra base hits. Her slugging percentage is a powerful .901 with an on-base percentage of .631 for the season. Dill was also successful along the base paths as she swiped 22 bases on 23 attempts.

For her career, Keystone was an incredible 109-18 in four seasons. Keystone earned a top-25 national ranking by USA Today in her senior season. She was honored as a four-time first-team All-Ohio, four-time first-team All-Conference, four-time first-team All-County player and a three-time County Player of the Year. Additionally she was honored as the 2009 Conference Player of the Year and 2009 Miss Softball in Lorain County as a senior. Dill elected to play in the Ohio vs. West Virginia All-Star game at Rio Grande College this summer.

For the most up-to-date information on the UK softball team stay tuned to UKathletics.com.