May 31, 2006

EVANSTON, Ill. -- For the second-consecutive year, three Northwestern Wildcats have earned Louisville Slugger/NFCA All-America honors. Junior Eileen Canney (Paradise, Calif./Paradise) earned a second-team nod as an at-large selection while junior Garland Cooper (Mission Viejo, Calif./Santa Margarita Catholic) and freshman Tammy Williams (Roscoe, Mo./Osceola) were tabbed third-team honorees at first base and shortstop, respectively.

Cooper -- the two-time Big Ten Player of the Year -- now has earned All-America accolades for the second-consecutive year after being a first-teamer at first base in 2005.

Cooper has set Northwestern single-season records with 23 doubles and 43 walks this season. She won her third-consecutive Big Ten batting title with a .471 average in conference play.

Canney's honor is the first of her career, and what a year it has been. The junior has fanned 355 batters in 2006, the second-most in Northwestern history behind Lisa Ishikawa's then-NCAA record 469 in 1984. Canney has 16 shutouts on the year and has earned wins over No. 1 UCLA, No. 15 Oregon State, No. 8 California and No. 13 Michigan.

Freshman phenom Williams leads Northwestern with a .379 batting average, 13 home runs, 40 RBIs and a school-record 62 runs scored. She ranks fifth in the nation with a 1.03 runs per game average, and announced her presence to the Division I softball world with her first-career home run on March 3 against USA Softball National Player of the Year finalist Monica Abbott from Tennessee.

Last year, Cooper, Stephanie Churchwell and senior Courtnay Foster (Tucson, Ariz./Sahuaro) all earned All-America honors, marking the first time in school history more than one Wildcat has been honored in the same season.

In addition to being named a Louisville Slugger All-American, Cooper also earned ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America honors as voted on by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). A communications studies major, Cooper is the first Wildcat to ever earn Academic All-America honors.

For the complete list of 2006 Louisville Slugger/NFCA All-Americans, link to nfca.org.