LIVINGSTON, Ala. – The University of West Alabama softball team placed six on the 2009 All-Gulf South Conference East Division Teams, headlined by two-time All-GSC First Team honoree Ashley Edgar.

Sophomores Valisha Fincher and Kelli Hartley join Edgar on the First Team.  Edgar, a senior catcher from Roseville, Calif. earned All-GSC First Team status as a junior a season ago.  She joined the UWA program in 2008 after a two-year stint at Sierra Junior College.  The Tiger trio of Emily White, Laura Bagwell and Lauren Mills were tabbed to the league’s Second Team.  Bagwell, White, Fincher and Hartley are repeat selections, as all four were voted all-conference in 2008.

Hartley, a native of Northport, Ala., leads the Red and White in hits (71), RBIs (70), runs scored (57) along with sharing home runs honors with Fincher.  Both sophomores have registered 15 round-trippers on the season.  Fincher leads the GSC in walks with 42 and ranks third in nation in walks per game.  Edgar, a mainstay behind the dish for UWA, leads the ballclub and has collected 56 hits, 18 for extra bases.  Defensively, she has punched out six on the base paths and picked off four. 

Bagwell, an anchor at third base, has contributed 14 doubles and six home runs on the season.  The Ragland, Ala.-senior ranks second all-time in UWA history in career runs scored with 134 along with holding down the third spot in career doubles.  White, a multi-position player, has belted 12 dingers on the season, including her first career triple earlier in the campaign.  The senior from Ragland, Ala., will depart UWA as the all-time leader in games played (206).  She surpassed Keli Jo Lenz (1998-01) this past weekend.  Mills, UWA’s primary designated player, garners All-GSC status in her first season in a Tiger uniform.  The Saskatoon, Saskatchewan-transfer from Western Nebraska Community College, sports a .314 batting clip entering post season play.  Mills has turned in 38 runs and driven in 35.  She leads the team in hit by pitches with six.

The six All-GSC Selections keyed UWA’s run to its first GSC Tournament appearance since the 1997 season along with matching the school record for wins in a season (42).  The Tigers begin their quest for the program’s seventh GSC Championship on Friday, May 1, against GSC West Champion Arkansas Tech.  First pitch is set for 9:30 a.m. in Southaven, Miss.  The game will be aired on WZNJ 106.5 FM and streamed on athletics.uwa.edu.