BATON ROUGE — LSU senior third baseman Ashlee Ducote, the first LSU softball player to hit over .400, was named the Athlete of the Year by the Southeastern Conference Wednesday as the All-SEC Coaches team was announced.
Ducote, from Alexandria, La., was named to the first-team All-SEC infield for the third year. She enters the SEC Tournament Thursday with a school record .449 batting average and she has 83 hits (two shy of the school record), 56 runs scored, 14 doubles, 7 triples and 10 home runs to go with a school record 59 RBI. She currently leads the league in slugging percentage (.753).
The Tigers, winners of the SEC regular season title for the second consecutive year and the SEC Western Division crown for the fourth consecutive time, placed four players on the SEC First Team and three others on the SEC second team.
Joining Ducote on the first-team infield are stellar junior second baseman Stephanie Hastings and senior shortstop Tara Asbill. Also making the first team for the second straight year is sophomore pitcher Britni Sneed.
Asbill and Mississippi State first-team catcher Keri McCallum earned their fourth All-SEC recognition in the voting by the league coaches.
On the second team from LSU are junior pitcher Ashley Lewis, senior first baseman Shaunte’ Fremin and senior centerfielder Stacey Newton.
The remainder of the first team finds Shelley Laird of Alabama at pitcher, Ginger Jones of Alabama at the final infield spot, Mary Petrie of Auburn at designated player/utility, Kelly Kretschman of Alabama, Ashley Boone of Florida, Leslie Kwiatkowski of Kentucky and Kellie Wilkerson of Mississippi State in the outfield.
Kentucky Coach Beth Kirchner, who led the Lady Kats to the SEC Eastern Division title and their first SEC Tournament berth, was named the Coach of the Year. Lacy Prejean of Alabama, who is from Scott, La., was named the Freshman of the Year.
LSU opens defense of its SEC Tournament title on Thursday at 7 p.m. CDT against Auburn at South Commons Stadium in Columbus, Ga.
All-SEC First Team
P – Shelley Laird, Alabama
P – , LSU
C – Kerri McCallum, Mississippi State
INF – Ginger Jones, Alabama
INF – , LSU
INF – , LSU
INF – , LSU
DP/UTL – Mary Petrie, Auburn
OF – Kelly Kretschman, Alabama
OF – Ashley Boone, Florida
OF – Leslie Kwiatkowski, Kentucky
OF – Kellie Wilkerson, Mississippi State
Athlete of the Year – Ashlee Ducote, LSU
Coach of the Year – Beth Kirchner, Kentucky
Freshman of the Year – Lacy Prejean, Alabama
Second Team All-SEC
P – , LSU
P – Tammy Kincaid, Arkansas
C – Lacy Prejean, Alabama
INF – Suzanne Olcott, Alabama
INF – Brett Erickson, Arkansas
INF – Shaunte’ Fremin, LSU
INF – Karrie Rider, Mississippi State
INF – Lora Pinkerton, Florida
DP/UTL – Emily Marino, Florida
OF – Christy Kyle, Alabama
OF – Tiffany Kruse, Kentucky
OF – , LSU