Contact: Tim Ertle

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CLEVELAND, Ohio - Three members of the Viking softball team were honored by the Horizon League for their efforts on the field when the yearly awards were handed out on Tuesday (May 8) afternoon. Junior first baseman Dara Toman was named to the All-League First Team whileSara Shields earned All-League Second Team honors in addition to joining Nena Doran on the All-Newcomer Team.

Toman, a second team performer last season, hit .405 with a school single season record and league-high 19 home runs. She led the league in runs with 45 and tied for third with her 42 runs driven in.

Her .892 slugging percentage was far and away the best in the league with the next closest finisher slugging at a .775 clip. Toman reached base at a .553 rate - thanks in large part to a school single season record 43 walks. She showed an uncanny ability to get on base and reached safely in 36 consecutive games to end the season.

No other player in the league reached base at a rate of .500.

Toman's totals ranked her seventh in the country in slugging percentage and tied her for 10th nationally in home runs.

She was also recognized on Tuesday as the CollegeSportsMadness.com Horizon League `Field Player of the Year'.

Shields was a pleasant surprise after coming to the program from Lake Erie College. In her second season at the collegiate level and first playing Division I ball, Shields was second on the team in average (.321), slugging percentage (.522), on-base percentage (.372), runs (24), hits (43) and home runs (seven). 

She was named to the second team as a DP, but Shields also excelled in the circle as she racked up a team-best 13 wins, tying her for sixth most in the league. She pitched 158.2 innings - the fifth most in the Horizon League - and finished with a 3.22 ERA and 129 strikeouts.

Doran started the year as the third baseman but made the transition to shortstop on a full-time basis after Cynthia Woodardwas lost for the year to injury. Defensively, her 94 assists were the seventh most of all Horizon League student-athletes.

She hit .229 with four home runs and was third on the team with 19 RBI while slugging at a .330 clip.

The Vikings missed the 2012 Horizon League Championships but lose just five seniors and return a strong nucleus and add a heralded recruiting class in 2013.

2012 Softball Awards
Player of the Year: Haley Thomas, Youngstown State 
Newcomer of the Year: Brittany Duncan, Valparaiso
Pitcher of the Year: Brittany Gardner, Loyola
Coach of the Year: Brian Campbell, Youngstown State

First Team Haley Thomas, Youngstown State
Jordan Rutkowski, Valparaiso
Jordan Ingalls, Youngstown State
Dara Toman, Cleveland State
Melissa Preish, UIC
Joylyn Ichiyama-Drewery, Valparaiso
Lauren McNulty, Butler
Brooke Andresen, Loyola
Meaghan Sullivan, Butler
Brittany Duncan, Valparaiso (DP) 
Brittany Gardner, Loyola (P) 
Alex Lagesse, Valparaiso (P) 

Second Team
Lauren Arceneaux, Loyola
Melinda Macias, UIC
Annie Korth, Loyola
Vicky Rumph, Youngstown State
Miranda Reinke, Green Bay
Jessica Balzano, Loyola
Coryn Schmit, UIC
Kristi Boreing, Wright State
Jessie Marinec, Valparaiso
Sara Shields, Cleveland State (DP) 
Krystian DeWitt, Wright State (P) 
Alli Goecks, Green Bay (P) 

All-Newcomer Team
Brittany Duncan, Valparaiso
Sara Shields, Cleveland State
Kristen Boros, Butler
Jessica Balzano, Loyola
Annie Korth, Loyola
Kayla Haslett, Youngstown State
Haley Mohrfeld, Green Bay
Nena Doran, Cleveland State
Jess Gorman, Wright State