May 14, 2007

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Four Aztecs have been named to the all-Mountain West Conference team, the conference announced Monday morning. Junior Christina Ross (Santa Clarita, Calif.), the 2006 MWC Pitcher of the Year, was selected to the all-conference team for the second consecutive season, while sophomore Melissa Owens (San Diego/Christian HS), and freshmen Brittany Knudsen (San Diego/Escondido HS) and Lindsey Marquez (Tustin, Calif.) were each honored for the first time.

Ross went 7-6 in league play with a 2.23 ERA, second-lowest in the MWC. She also posted league highs in innings pitched (88.0), strikeouts (82), appearances (18) and games started (13). Ross was named the MWC Pitcher of the Week on two occasions and pitched SDSU's first known perfect game in an 8-0 win over Brown on March 28.

Owens earned her first all-MWC selection despite missing five conference games with a leg injury. Despite the injury, Owens still struck out 60 batters (fourth in MWC) over 44.0 innings. She posted a 2.70 ERA and was named MWC Pitcher of the Week on two occasions.

Knudsen had a marvelous first year on The Mesa, finishing among the league leaders (MWC games only) in triples (T-1st, 2), walks (T-3rd, 12), on-base percentage (5th, .474), hits (T-6th, 24), batting average (T-7th, .381) and runs scored (T-10th, 15). Knudsen batted .386 overall on the season, the third-highest mark in Aztec history.

Marquez batted .404 over a standout conference season, the fifth-highest mark in the MWC. She also was tied for third in doubles (5) and tied for 10th in stolen bases (3). Marquez raised her batting average 71 percentage points from the start of conference play (.257) to the end of the season on Sunday (.328).

SDSU finished 32-24 on the season (8-12 in MWC) and was left out of the NCAA tournament, despite defeating four nationally ranked opponents.