Three Tigers earn All-SEC honors

• By WILLIAM WEATHERS
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: May 8, 2008 - Page: 2C - UPDATED: 12:45 a.m.

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A pair of sophomores and a senior tri-captain came away with the biggest awards for LSU during Wednesday’s banquet on the eve of the Southeastern Conference tournament.

Center fielder Rachel Mitchell, the Tigers leading hitter at .384 with 10 homers and 48 RBIs, was selected to the 12-member All-SEC team that was picked by the league’s coaches.

The All-SEC second team, which also consists of 12 players, contained the name of pitcher Cody Trahan (17-4, 2.02 earned run average, 136 strikeouts, five shutouts) who has taken over the team’s lead role in place of injured Dani Hofer. Trahan went 9-3 with a 2.18 ERA in conference play with 74 strikeouts, eight complete games and four shutouts.

Senior right fielder Quinlan Duhon of Youngsville earned her first All-SEC acclaim — landing on the second team after hitting .324 with nine homers and 32 RBIs. She hit .372 in league games with seven home runs and 21 RBIs.

Regular-season champion Florida captured two of the major awards with junior Stacey Nelson (38-2, 0.81) being named the top pitcher and third-year coach Tim Walton coach of the year.

Player of the year honors went to Tennessee senior Tonya Callahan (.469, 16 HRs), while Alabama swept the next two awards — Freshman of the Year Kelsi Dunne and Scholar-Athlete Jordan Praytor.

Gator power
Top-ranked and No. 1-seeded Florida, which opens play at 1:30 against eighth-seeded Ole Miss, became only the second team in the conference’s 12-year history to go through league play with only one loss. Florida matched the feat of South Carolina’s 25-1 mark in 1997 to give the Gators their second regular-season  championship and first since ’98.

“I can tell you that I have a bunch of kids that really play hard,” Florida third-year coach Walton said.

“They fight, they practice well, they prepare well, they take criticism very well and they just have a hunger. They really don’t want to lose and that says a lot for a team that has a lot of youth. Most importantly this team is just a great team with a lot of kids with great character.”

Florida (59-2) has established a school record for wins in a season and carries a 32-game win streak into tournament play. The Gators, who lost in three games at Texas A&M in super regional play last season, returned eight starters from a 50-22 team and 11 newcomers.

“He’s done a great job,” Tennessee co-head coach Ralph Weekly said of Walton, who has won 152 games in his three seasons. “His hitting fundamentals are outstanding. They just don’t beat themselves. Anybody that wins that many games in a row has got to be really, really good.”

Maintaining its presence
Third-seeded LSU, second-seeded Alabama and top-seeded Florida are the only three teams to have appeared in all 12 SEC tournaments.

The Tigers have won the league’s postseason tournament a record five times followed by the Crimson Tide with three. South Carolina has won two.