6/25/09

Barnes earns national recognition

FARMINGTON -- University of Maine at Farmington sophomore catcher/first baseman McKell Barnes (Durham, ME) was recently announced by the NCAA as the NCAA Division III softball statistical champion in two categories.

Barnes was tops in the nation in home runs per game (.43) and slugging percentage (1.088). The sophomore also achieved top 10 national rankings in four other categories as she was second in on-base percentage (.614), third in batting average (.527) and RBI per game (1.47) and ninth in walks per game (.73).

Honored as the North Atlantic Conference Player of the Year and as a member of the All-NAC First Team, Barnes broke program single-season records for runs (33), home runs (13) and RBI (44). She also holds the career mark for home runs at 18.

In NAC play, Barnes led the league hitting .595 at the plate (25-42) with a .654 on-base percentage during conference play. The sophomore was among the leaders in slugging percentage (1.071), runs batted in (19) and home runs (4) helping Farmington to a 10-4 conference mark.

Farmington finished its season at 17-13.