ST. LOUIS, MO. -- Five Drake softball players have been named to the Missouri Valley Conference Scholar-Athlete team, highlighted by first-team selections junior outfielder Bridget Shields (Iowa City, Iowa/West) and sophomore pitcher Brynne Dordel (Chanhassen, Minn./Chaska).

Named to the honorable mention team were junior outfielder Kelsey Kahler (North Liberty, Iowa/Clear Creek-Amana) and sophomores designated player Erin Bly (Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln Way East) and pitcher Jenna DeLong (Dalton Gardens, Idaho/Coeur d'Alene).

Drake's five selections are the most in school history and the most of any MVC team this year. Dordel, Bly and DeLong are the only sophomore selections on the team.

Shields, who maintains a 3.93 grade point average in biology, was an ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District VII first-team selection earlier this year. She started all 53 games for Drake and ended her junior campaign hitting .243 with 21 runs scored, nine doubles and 18 RBI.

An accounting/management major, Dordel boasts a 4.00 grade point average. She appeared in 27 games this season totaling 140 strikeouts in 126.1 innings. Dordel ranks third in career strikeouts (362) and ninth in career wins (29) at Drake. During her freshman campaign she led the team with 207.2 innings pitched, 19 wins, 222 strikeouts, 1.96 ERA and 18 CG, receiving MVC Newcomer of the Year honors.

Dordel paced Drake to its first NCAA tournament appearance since 1994, winning three games at the conference tournament and receiving tournament MVP honors. She ranks 10^th in single-season wins (19), fifth in single-season shutouts (7), third in single-season strikeouts (222) and eighth in single-season innings pitched (207.2).

Kahler, who maintains a 3.77 grade point average in elementary education, started 49 of 52 games this season. She was 2-of-3 with two runs scored and two RBI against in-state rival Iowa State and had a mid-season five-game hit streak.

A first-team All-MVC selection, Bly maintains a 3.56 grade point average in politics. She led team with a .317 batting average (17^th best in the MVC) and recorded 12 multiple-hit games and seven multiple-RBI games. Bly had a mid-season 12-game hitting streak and ranks second on the team with 25 RBI. Over the course of the season she improved her batting average from .195 (Feb. 27) to end with a .317 average.

DeLong, the team's top hurler, was a first-team All-MVC selection and received MVC Player of the Week honors May 4. She led the team in ERA (1.76), wins (19), complete games (21), strikeouts (244) and innings pitched (214.1). DeLong had seven games with double-digit SO's, including a career-high 14 against UNI. She set a Drake single season strikeouts record and ranks second all-time in single-season wins (19). She also ranks seventh in single-season innings (214.1), 10^th in career wins (26) and sixth in career strikeouts (315).

Among MVC pitchers DeLong ranked in: ERA (sixth), wins (second), opponent batting average (sixth, .210), innings pitched (third), strikeouts (third), appearances (fourth) and starts (sixth). She was also a threat from the plate, ranking fourth with a .253 batting average, as well as collecting  seven multiple-hit games.