Ray Named One of Eight SEC CoSIDA Academic All-District Members

LEXINGTON, Ky. – For the second consecutive
season, Kentucky junior outfielder Breanne Ray was named to the first team of
the 2016 College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic
All-District Team on Thursday afternoon. She is one of just eight players from
the Southeastern Conference to be placed on the all-district teams.

Ray is the sixth Kentucky softball player under
Rachel Lawson’s tenure to be named Academic All-District, joining Meagan Aull
(2011), Kara Dill (2013), Griffin Joiner (2014, 15), Lauren Cumbess (2014), and
Emily Gaines (2014) and joins Joiner as the only players from UK to ever win
the honor two times in their careers. Aull is the only CoSIDA Academic
All-American in program history, back in 2011.

Ray is Kentucky’s everyday right fielder,
starting in 29 of the 39 games she has played in this season for the Blue and
White. The Benton, Ky., native is batting .221 on the season with 17 hits, five
doubles and two home runs. The junior had home runs in back-to-back games this
year, including a walk-off homer against Northern Kentucky to give the Wildcats
a 9-0 run-rule win over the Norse in five innings.

Just completing her junior year of academics
this week in Lexington, Ray is a disorders major and has a GPA of 3.987 in the
classroom. She has been named to the SEC Academic Honor Roll every year eligible
at Kentucky.

Representatives from the SEC on the
All-District First Teams include: Chandler Dare, Sydney Littlejohn and Haylie
McCleney of Alabama; Kasey Cooper of Auburn; Kayli Kvistad of Florida; Breanne
Ray of Kentucky; Emily Crane of Missouri; and Kaylea Snaer of South Carolina.

The Academic All-District™ teams are divided
into eight geographic districts across the United States and Canada. This is
the fifth year of the expanded Academic All-America® program as CoSIDA moved
from recognizing a University Division (Division I) and a College Division (all
non-Division I) and has doubled the number of scholar-athletes honored. The
expanded teams include NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II and NCAA Division III
participants, while the College Division Academic All-America® Team combines
NAIA, Canadian and two-year schools.

First-team Academic All-District™ honorees
advance to the CoSIDA Academic All-America® Team ballot, where first-, second-
and third-team All-America honorees will be selected later this month.

CoSIDA Academic All-District 2 – First Team

P – Amanda Fazio, Bucknell (3.72)

P – Carolyn Szymanski, Delaware (3.76)

C – Carolyn Wright, Lehigh (3.97)

INF – Morgan Decker, Lehigh (3.73)

INF – Sidney Melton, Louisville (3.93)

INF – Jessica Twaddle, Murray State (3.96)

INF – Alexis Watanabe, Lehigh (3.82)

OF – Breanne Ray, Kentucky (3.98)

OF – Kendra Heyer, LaSalle (4.00)

OF – Valerie Suto, Seton Hall (3.82)

Kentucky will open a three-game series on
Friday with Mississippi State at 6 p.m. ET on Friday night at John Cropp
Stadium.

For
the latest on the Kentucky softball team, follow @UKSoftball on Twitter, Instagram
and Facebook, as well as on the web at UKathletics.com.