(Peru, Neb.) – The National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) recently named over 4,000 student-athletes from 707 different academic institutions as a 2011 NFCA All-America Scholar Athlete. Eight Peru State College (PSC) softball team members and the team as well earned honors.

The award is given to any player, submitted by a member coach, who achieved a 3.50 grade point average or higher during the 2010-11 academic year. The award is the second component of the Association's academic award program. The other award is the team award, which identifies the top academic teams per the respective membership categories. This year's 4,337 honorees bested last year's total by over 30 student-athletes.

2010-11 Bobcat Softball Team among top teams with GPA

The PSC team finished 33rd among the NAIA school recognized with a team grade point average (gpa) for the 2010-11 year of 3.132. Central Methodist University, a Heart of America Athletic Conference member with PSC, was tops with a team gpa of 3.627.

The eight student-athletes recognized for their excellent academic year were Alyssa Mangum (Nebraska City), Krista Patton (Nebraska City), Lyndsay Drumm (Bennington), Brittany Hoock (Elkhorn), Emily Maresh (Central City), Becky Boshart (Wood River), Abbie Moser (Lincoln), and Devon Massengale (Elkhorn).

Alyssa Mangum	Krista Patton	Lynsday Drumm	Brittany Hoock

Emily Maresh	Becky Boshart	Abbie Moser	Devon Massengale

Bobcat head softball coach Mark Mathews was pleased with the announcement of the team and individual accomplishments. Mathews said, “I am proud of the accomplishments of the individuals to be named as an All-America Scholar Athlete by the NFCA and that our team was listed as a top team for our combined GPA. With the large number of individuals honored, it shows we take our academics seriously and that we can do well on the field and in the classroom. We will continue to keep emphasizing the importance of academics to all our team members so we can get back into the top ten as we have been in the past. We have set our goals high and we will not let up until we accomplish them.”