POTSDAM, N.Y.—SUNY Potsdam softball players, Sam Horne (Buffalo, N.Y./Kenmore West) and Sophia Pleat (Clifton Park, N.Y./Shenendehowa), have earned spots on the College Sports Communicators Academic All-District Team. The team is selected by CSC member directors of athletic communications to recognize the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performances on the field and in the classroom.
 
To be eligible for nomination, athletes need to maintain at least a 3.5 GPA, be a sophomore and have participated in at least 90 percent of their team's contests. Pitchers need to have at least 17 appearances, or 25 innings pitched.
 
Horne, a sophomore pitcher and first baseman, started all 40 games the Bears played this spring. She was 6-8 with a 5.91 earned-run average and 34 strikeouts in 103 innings pitched. She hit .273 with 30 hits, five doubles, three stolen bases, 11 runs scored and 17 RBI. Horne also posted a perfect fielding percentage with 67 putouts and 36 assists in 103 chances. In her two seasons in Potsdam she has won 12 games, thrown two shutouts, complied a 5.41 E.R.A., a .984 fielding percentage and struck out 65 hitters in 202 innings. Horne was named the athletic department's Newcomer of the Year at last year's Maxcy Awards sports banquet.
 
Pleat served as a captain this season. The junior outfielder hit .255 this spring with 25 hits, three doubles, five runs and five RBI while starting all 38 games she played. She displayed strong defense with a .923 fielding percentage on 44 putouts and four assists. In three seasons and 85 games as a Bear, Pleat totaled 49 hits, seven doubles, 19 runs, 21 RBI, nine walks and five stolen bases. At this year's sports banquet, she received the Portrait of a Potsdam Athlete Award. The award given to a "student-athlete who displays the virtues of good sportsmanship including fairness, self-control, courage and persistence and consistently strives for success and encourages others to do the same. They also show pride and support for all Potsdam Athletics."
 
The Bears posted a 14-26 record this season matching the program's single-season wins record for the third straight year.