The Southampton, Mass., native earns All-Academic honor for second straight year

RINDGE, N.H. (April 22, 2008) - Senior captain Kate Surgen (Southampton, Mass./ Hampshire Regional) of the Franklin Pierce University softball team was one of 11 players named to the Northeast-10 Conference All-Academic First Team by the Northeast-10 Sports Information Directors, the conference office announced on Tuesday afternoon.

To be eligible for selection, student-athletes must have participated in at least half of the team's competitions as a starter or significant contributor, achieved a 3.2 cumulative grade point average (on a 4.0 scale) and completed at least one academic year at her current institution.

Surgen, who was named to the All-Academic third team as a junior, moves up to the first team in her senior season with a cumulative 3.381 GPA as a biology major with a chemistry minor. Off the field, Surgen was a 2007 NCAA Institutional Sportsmanship Award recipient and has won the Franklin Pierce Athletics Community Service Award twice.

On the diamond, the two-year captain has started all 36 games this season and leads the Ravens with a .318 batting average (34-for-107). She began the season by collecting at least one hit in 12 of the team's first 13 games, with six multi-hit games in that stretch, and on the season is second on the team with nine multi-hit games. The senior also has a .978 fielding percentage behind the plate.

Surgen, who also rows on the Franklin Pierce women's crew team, has appeared in 146 games with 143 starts as a four-year starter for the softball team, posting a career .238 batting average with 23 runs batted in and eight stolen bases.

Franklin Pierce (6-30, 5-17 NE-10) is in action this afternoon, as the Ravens play two against Northeast-10 opponent Assumption College beginning at 3 p.m.