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CITY  (Viking Sports Information)–Pitcher Katie McBride and third baseman Jane Pettit, both seniors for the Valley City State University Vikings Softball team were selected to the 1st Team Association of Independent Institutions (A.I.I.) All Conference Team.

McBride was fourth in the A.I.I. with a 1.82 Earned Run Average. That was the highest ERA of any pitcher in the conference other than the pitchers from Cal State San Marcos who is the #2 team in the NAIA National Poll. McBride was first in the A.I.I. in innings pitched with 203.2, the next highest pitcher was 157 innings. She was also first in Batters Struck Out with 143.

McBride also ranked in the top ten in the A.I.I. in Wins with 16 which was good enough for 3rd in the Conference, Batting Average Against (7th), Hits Allowed per Game (7th), and Batters Struck Out per Game (8th).

As good as McBride was in the circle, Pettit was just as good at the plate. Pettit was ranked seventh in the A.I.I. in batting average hitting at a .439 clip.

Pettit also ranked eighth in the A.I.I. in Slugging Percentage (.682) and tenth in Hits per Game (1.26).

The Association of Independent Associations All Conference selections include two teams with 18 members on the first team and eleven on the second team.

The Vikings finished sixth in the A.I.I. with an overall record of 26-20 on the season. The top six teams make A.I.I. Conference Tournament, but the Vikings were knocked out of the sixth spot for the tournament by the host team, Thomas University (GA) who receive an automatic bid. The A.I.I. consists of fourteen teams in softball throughout the United States and Canada.

The 26 wins posted by the Vikings were the second most in team history.