[PAmedic]

*Originally posted Wed Jan 25, 2006

From the Official Site:

Moore Named Big South Preseason Player Of The Year; Softball Team Picked To Finish Sixth

January 24, 2006 · Lynchburg, Va.

The reigning Big South Softball Player of the Year is predicted to retain the honor this year as Liberty’s Jessica Moore was named the Big South Softball Preseason Player of the Year as announced today by the conference office, while the Lady Flames were picked to finish sixth in the upcoming season.

Moore (Jr., SS, Chesapeake, Va.) was the 2005 Big South Softball Player of the Year and a Louisville Slugger/NFCA All-Region Southeast Second Team member. She led the Big South and set a school record last season with 18 home runs to rank seventh in the nation. She also ranked fifth in Division I with an .883 slugging percentage, while posting the nation’s 14th best batting average (.427).

Moore received six first-place votes and 19 points, ahead of Coastal Carolina’s Meagan Johnson, who tallied six points and two first-place votes. Radford’s Amanda Walling (five points and one first-place vote), Birmingham-Southern’s Nikki Rombough (four points and two first-place votes) and Charleston Southern’s Ashley Robinson (three points and one first-place vote) round out the top five.

Winthrop was chosen as the team to beat in the league as the Eagles were tabbed as the conference’s preseason favorite when the annual conference preseason poll was released earlier today. The poll is voted on by the league’s Head Softball Coaches and the Sports Information Directors.

The Eagles received seven first-place votes and 84 out of a possible 98 points to win the Big South title in 2006. Winthrop was picked ahead of Coastal Carolina, which received three first-place votes and 81 points, while Radford finished third in the voting with four first-place votes and 76 points.

It was a close finish for the 4-6 spots, as associate member Texas A&M-Corpus Christi captured the fourth position with 46 points, just ahead of Birmingham-Southern (fifth, 45 points) and Liberty (sixth, 44). Charleston Southern garnered seventh place with 16 points.

The Lady Flames are scheduled to begin action on February 24th when the face Stoney Brook and Delaware State in first day action at the Seahawk Classic where last year Liberty opened the year by advancing to the championship game.

http://libertyflames.com/softball/news.asp?news_id=2980

[PAmedic]

Jessica Moore set a new school record with three home runs
in a game on Wednesday as Liberty pounded a total of seven
round trippers on the day en route to a sweep over Gardner-Webb.