May 8, 2008
NORMAL, Ill. -
For the second time in her career, Illinois State senior second baseman Tiffany Prager was named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District V Softball First Team, the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) announced Thursday. It marks the second-straight year that Prager has represented the Redbirds on the academic all-district team.
As a first-team academic all-district member, Prager will be nominated for consideration for the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American Team. Illinois State has had five academic All-Americans in program history, with the last being Kate Stake in 2005.
Prager has also been recognized nationally this year for her involvement in the Bloomington-Normal, Ill., community, as she was selected as one of 30 national candidates for consideration for the prestigious Lowe's Senior CLASS Award. The candidates were chosen based on personal qualities that define a complete senior student-athlete, which include classroom, community, character and competition.
The Bloomington, Ill., native will graduate this weekend from Illinois State with a 3.64 cumulative grade-point average in business administration. Despite missing six games in late-April due to a dislocated left shoulder she suffered April 16 at Illinois, Prager has had a career season for the Redbirds, as she is batting .350 on the year, which ranks second on the team, and is 57 points higher than her career average (.293). She also ranks second on the team in runs scored (26) and doubles (8), while her .424 on-base percentage is third-best.
Prager's eight doubles on the year have given her 33 for her career and moved her into a tie for sixth place all-time at Illinois State in career doubles.
Prager's strong offensive season earned the senior captain her first-ever first-team All-Missouri Valley Conference selection Wednesday night at the annual State Farm MVC Tournament banquet, held at Southern Illinois' SIU Arena in Carbondale, Ill.
The second-seeded Redbirds will begin State Farm MVC Tournament play at 2:30 p.m. Friday in the semifinal round against seventh-seeded Missouri State.
