SOUTHEAST HAULS IN OVC HONORS

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. -- Southeast Missouri, which finished with a 22-2 record in conference play, walked away with the OVC's top three awards Saturday and also had a school record nine players named to the all-OVC teams.

Southeast's senior catcher Lisa Kraxner was chosen the 1996 OVC Player of the year while junior teammate Sara Reichert repeated as OVC Pitcher of the Year. In addition, Otahkian head coach Lana Richmond was awarded the OVC Coach of the Year for a second time.

Southeast, which had a nation-leading 32-game win streak this season, also dominated the all-OVC first team with six players named to the squad. Joining Kraxner and Reichert on the squad were freshman shortstop Jenny Oermann, junior outfielder Kim Palmer, senior left fielder Jodi Smith and freshman pitcher Debbie Schmelz.

Three Otahkians -- senior first baseman Janis Swiderski, senior second baseman Kelley Heatherington and sophomore Erin Frazier -- were named to the second team.

Kraxner led Southeast in hitting and her .415 batting average ranked fourth in the OVC. She led the conference in RBI (30) and was among the top 10 in runs scored (32), triples (4) and home runs (4). Defensively, the two-time all-OVC selection had just one error and three passed ball all season.

Reichert went 11-3 with a 1.12 ERA in 87.1 innings. She struck out 82 batters and walked 22. She tossed a league-high six shutouts.

Richmond led the Otahkians to a 34-5 record, the best current mark among Division I schools this year. Under her direction, Southeast fell just three games short of the NCAA Division I all-time win-streak record. The Otahkians' 32-game streak was fourth longest in NCAA Division I history. Southeast is 44-6 in OVC play over the past two seasons.