PEORIA, Ill. ? Junior outfielder Stephanie Ramsey (Washington, Ill./Washington) was named a first-team Missouri Valley Conference Scholar-Athlete and senior outfielder Christine Cooney (East Moline, Ill./United Township) was an honorable mention MVC Scholar-Athlete selection announced by the league office Tuesday.
Ramsey is the eighth different player in program history to earn first-team MVC Scholar-Athlete honors and is the first junior to earn the award since Brittany Mynsberge in 2004. An elementary education major with a 3.84 cumulative grade point average, Ramsey hit .260 this spring with three doubles, two home runs and 15 RBI.
She started 39 of the 44 games she appeared in and hit a team-best .313 with runners in scoring position while tying for the team lead with 11 two-out RBI on the season. In conference play, Ramsey was fourth on the team with a .269 batting average and had a team-best 12 RBI against league foes. She started a total of 25 games in left field and tied for second on the team with four multi-RBI games.
Cooney earned honorable mention MVC Scholar-Athlete honors for the second time in her career, after also earning the honor following the 2005 season. She finished fifth on the team with a .246 batting average and led the team in runs (22) and tied for the team lead in triples (3) and sacrifice hits (10) while breaking her own school season record with eight hit by pitches.
An accounting major with a 3.68 cumulative grade point average, Cooney finished her career as the Braves all-time leader after getting hit by 16 pitches in her career and also ranks among Bradley's career top 10 in games played (9th - 185) and sacrifice hits (3rd - 30). She led the Braves with a .310 average with runners on and hit .308 with runners in scoring position. Cooney's .363 on base percentage was second on the team and she led all players with a 1.000 fielding percentage.
The duo helped lead Bradley to a 26-23 overall record and seventh-place finish in the regular-season Missouri Valley Conference standings. The Braves posted back-to-back winning seasons for the first time 1994 (33-8) and 1995 (35-20-1) and advanced to the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament for the first time since 2000.
Voting for the 2007 MVC Scholar-Athlete Team was conducted by the league's sports information directors. Fifty-three student-athletes were nominated for this year's scholar-athlete team. Nine of the MVC first-team members were also named ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District First-Team honorees. To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be a starter or key reserve, maintain a 3.20 cumulative grade point average and reached sophomore athletic and academic standings in order to be nominated for the award.
