May 14, 2009

ATHENS, Ohio - Add another award to Ohio softball player Alexis Zambrana's already-growing list of accomplishments as the freshman was named to the All-Mideast Region First Team by the National Fast Pitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Thursday. Zambrana is the first Ohio player since 2004 and the fourth Bobcat ever to be named First Team All-Region.

One of just three Mid-American Conference players and two shortstops recognized, Zambrana, an Alvin, Texas, native, enjoyed a banner rookie season in 2009. She finished the year hitting at a .369 clip, tying the 10th highest single-season mark in school history, and tallied 45 hits and 21 RBIs overall. In conference play alone, Zambrana floated just at or above the .400 mark for much of the slate before finishing at .396. She also picked up 12 of her RBIs and had a fielding percentage of .968 during league play. Her third award of the year, Zambrana also picked up both All-MAC First Team and All-MAC Freshman Team honors last week.

Zambrana was one of just 25 players named to the All-Mideast Region team. A total of 264 players from 121 institutions compiled the 10 Division I all-region teams announced. She will now become eligible for selection to the Louisville Slugger/NFCA All-American teams announced later in the month.

Ohio recently concluded its 2009 season, the first under head coach Jodi Hermanek, with 12 conference wins, its most league wins since the 2004 season. The `Cats also posted marks that rank among the school's all-time bests in batting average (fourth), runs (eighth), hits (10th), doubles (T- fifth), triples (T-fourth), home runs (fourth) and RBIs (ninth) during the year.

For a complete list of the NFCA All-Region teams, please click here