Contributed
(April 7, 2010)

Auburn Montgomery softball player Brandi Richards has been named the Southern States Athletic Conference Player of the Week.

Richards is known more for her prowess on the mound, but she is also the leading hitter for the Lady Senators softball team.

She hit over .583 (7-12) for the week and has stretched her consecutive game hitting streak to 12.  She added a homerun, double and four RBI against the third and 13th ranked teams in the nation.  She was not too bad on the mound either, with 23 strikeouts in 16 innings pitched.

She is hitting .446 on the year with five homeruns and 21 RBI.  She also has a team-high 11 doubles.

Senior Day set for April 10

The Auburn Montgomery softball program will recognize its first senior class Saturday, April 10th when the Lady Senators host Emmanuel College.  The seniors will be recognized between the first and second games.  The first game of the double-header will begin at 2 p.m.

AUM has four seniors in its first senior class; Danielle Ryan, Allie Bobo, Alli Converse and Stephanie Baxley.  These seniors led an upstart AUM team to a 31-22-1 overall record last year and to a fourth-place conference finish with a 19-12-1 record.  This season, the Lady Senators have achieved the highest ranking in the short history of the program at 12th and are on the verge of 30 wins once again.

Ryan and Baxley are both pitchers and have almost 20 career wins heading into the weekend games.  Bobo has been the starting shortstop with almost 80 starts in her career and Converse has been starting at third base.  She was the only player to start all 53 games last season and has played in all 38 games this season with 35 starts.

This weekend is also Youth Softball Weekend at AUM softball games, both at Friday and Saturday’s games.  Any youth softball player that wears their youth softball uniform will gain free admission into the softball games.  All youth players will also receive a softball poster and there will be an autograph session after each double-header.

AUM will face Southern Wesleyan University on Friday, with that double-header beginning at 2 p.m.

Thomas earns achievement award

Nathan Thomas, Mt. Juliet, Tenn., has received the AUM Army Athletic Achievement Award presented by the AUM Army ROTC.

Thomas completed his basketball career at AUM by being named Honorable Mention All-American.  He was the Southern States Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year and became the 17th player in AUM history to score 1,000 career points.

Thomas has not only been a solid basketball player at AUM he has also been a strong representative of AUM.  He is involved in many campus activities and has been involved in many community events such as Martin Luther King Reading Day and works with area youth in basketball camps.