May 25, 2010

Rio's Bowman earns NAIA Scholar-Athlete honor

DECATUR, Ala. - The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) has announced that 275 softball players have been named 2010 Daktronics-NAIA Softball Scholar-Athletes. Among them was University of Rio Grande junior shortstop Amber Bowman.

Bowman, a native of Hebron, Ohio, is the daughter of Terry and Debbie Bowman. She is majoring in Physical Education. Bowman also earned an academic all-conference award from the Mid-South Conference earlier this month. 

"This is a big honor and Amber is very deserving," said Rio Grande head coach David Pyles. "I'm very glad to see her get an award such as this. We would have had more of these, but the NAIA looks at just juniors and seniors. We had several sophomores who would have earned this honor if they had been eligible."

Pyles held Bowman up has an example to the younger players. "Amber was one of only three upperclassmen that we had in the program and will be the only senior next year," he said. "Her leadership on and off the field is very important to our program. Amber has worked hard on softball and in her class work and this just proves that it is paying off." 

Bowman was selected honorable mention All-MSC for her play on the field. She was the fourth leading hitter on the team this season with a .299 batting average. She was at the top of the statistical sheet in doubles with 12 and was second in RBI's with 30. 

Nominated by each institution's head coach, a student-athlete must maintain a minimum grade point average of 3.5 on a 4.0 scale and have achieved junior academic status to qualify.

Rio Grande finished the regular season with a 30-23 record overall and claimed fourth place in the MSC with a mark of 17-11.