BATON ROUGE — Sophomore Rachel Mitchell was named to the All-Southeastern Conference first team, while senior Quinlan Duhon and sophomore Cody Trahan earned second team honors, it was announced by the league office at the SEC Tournament banquet on Wednesday night.
It marked the second conference honor for Mitchell, who was named to the All-Freshman team last season. In her first year, she was also named to the SEC Tournament, NCAA Palo Alto Regional and NCAA Tempe Super Regional all-tournament teams.
The honors are the first for Duhon and Trahan in their respective careers. Duhon is a three-time member of the SEC Academic Honor Roll and earned the final SEC Player of the Week honor earlier this week. She was also named to the NCAA Palo Alto Regional and NCAA Tempe Super Regional all-tournament teams last season. The All-SEC honors are based entirely on conference play with no consideration for non-league statistics.
Ranked in the top 10 in the SEC in 10 categories including batting average, RBIs and home runs in league play, Mitchell was the SEC Player of the Week on April 29. In the 28 conference games this season, the outfielder recorded a hit in 22 of them, including 11 multiple-hit games. Only once all season did she fail to record a hit in back-to-back games and that was a part of two separates conference series.
In five league games this season, Mitchell was responsible for knocking in the winning run. She posted a pair of game-winning RBIs against nationally ranked teams, Georgia and Tennessee, while also hitting in the winning run against Auburn, which is receiving votes in the polls. With two home runs against Arkansas, she tied the LSU single-game record and against the Lady Vols, she recorded four RBIs, which is tied for the team lead in conference play this season. While playing both right and center field, she has not recorded an error in the field.
Stepping up her play in her final season, Duhon ranks in the top 10 in the SEC in slugging percentage and home runs and recorded three RBIs on a walk-off home run to post a run-rule win over Auburn. The outfielder currently has a seven-game hitting streak, which is the second longest on the team this season. In eight games, she has posted multiple hits, while recording multiple RBIs in four games.
In 19 of LSU’s 28 conference games, Duhon recorded at least one hit. This past weekend at South Carolina, she led the team by batting over .400 with two doubles and two home runs. She also led the team with eight RBIs for the weekend, which included two four-RBI games, which is tied for the team lead this year.
With the loss of Dani Hofer to injury, Trahan stepped in to the No. 1 role and has gone 6-0 since that time, picking up three wins against Arkansas, two against South Carolina and one over nationally ranked Tennessee. Cutting her earned run average nearly in half since moving into the top role, she has been vital in LSU’s late season run to finish third in the conference standings.
With only three losses in SEC play, two of them game against Florida and Alabama, which have both spent time as the No. 1 team in the nation this season. She now ranks in the top 10 in the conference in earned run average, wins, strikeouts and innings pitched. Against nationally ranked Georgia in the first SEC series of the season, she threw a complete-game one-hitter and did not allow a run in 14.2 innings in the three-game series against Arkansas.
The Tigers will open SEC Tournament play against sixth-seeded Auburn on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at Tiger Park. Fans can purchase all tickets online at LSUsports.net, at the ticket office or by calling 578-2184 or (800) 960-8587. Tournament books are available for $20 each for adults and $10 each for youth between the ages of 3 and 12. All children under three get into Tiger Park for free. In addition, single-game tickets are available at a cost of $5 for adults and $3 for youth.
All of the Tigers’ postseason games will be broadcast on the LSU Sports Radio Network in Baton Rouge on The X – 104.5/104.9 FM and on the internet in the GeauxZone at LSUsports.net. In addition, live stats for all SEC Tournament games and streaming video for the first two days action can be found on LSUsports.net. The championship game on Saturday will be televised on Fox Sports in Baton Rouge on cable channel 38.
Player of the Year: Tonya Callahan, Tennessee
Pitcher of the Year: Stacey Nelson, Florida
Coach of the Year: Tim Walton, Florida
Freshman of the Year: Kelsi Dunne, Alabama
Scholar-Athlete of the Year: Jordan Praytor, Alabama
All-SEC First Team
P Stacey Nelson Florida
P Kelsi Dunne Alabama
IF Tonya Callahan Tennessee
IF Ali Gardiner Florida
IF Courtney Bures Mississippi State
IF Kelley Montalvo Alabama
OF Brittany Rogers Alabama
OF Rachel Mitchell LSU
OF Kim Waleszonia Florida
OF Megan Wiggins Georgia
C Chelsea Bramlett Mississippi State
DP/U Charlotte Morgan Alabama
All-SEC Second Team
P Cody Trahan LSU
P Anna Thompson Auburn
IF Aja Paculba Florida
IF Kenora Posey Tennessee
IF Sojourner Moody Georgia
IF Molly Johnson Kentucky
OF Dani Woods Alabama
OF Jordan Praytor Alabama
OF Quinlan Duhon LSU
OF Hayle Guess Mississippi State
C Ashley Holcombe Alabama
DP/U Lauren Grill, UM
Freshman All-SEC First Team
P Kelsi Dunne Alabama
P Stephanie Brombacher Florida
IF Aja Paculba Florida
IF Jen Lapicki Tennessee
IF Megan Bush Florida
IF Ali Bainbridge Mississippi State
OF Megan Wiggins Georgia
OF Meagan Aull Kentucky
OF Taylor Schlopy Georgia
OF Laura Mendes South Carolina
C Megan Yocke Kentucky
DP/U Tiffany DeFelice Florida
All-Defensive Team
P Stacey Nelson Florida
C Ashley Holcombe Alabama
1B Ali Gardiner Florida
2B * Chrissy Schoonmaker South Carolina
2B * Aja Paculba Florida
SS Kenora Posey Tennessee
3B Kelley Montalvo Alabama
OF Kim Waleszonia Florida
OF Myesha Finney Auburn
OF Brittany Rogers Alabama
*No ties are broken
Mitchell Leads Three Tigers on All-SEC Softball Teams