Suffolk's Jess Ferreira and Rivier's Monica White Selected Pre-Season All-Americans

Suffolk University senior shortstop Jess Ferreira (Cambridge, MA) and Rivier College junior pitcher Monica White (Augusta, ME) were selected as second team preseason All-Americans by the Division III Softball Newsletter.

In 2008, Ferreira was named as the Great Northeast Athletic Conference Softball Player of the Year for the second straight season in a vote of the league's coaches, while also earning GNAC Rookie of the Year in 2006. Ferreira led the league last season in 10 offensive categories, including batting average (.545), hits (60), RBI (51), home runs (8), total bases (115) and slugging percentage (1.073) in 37 games played.

Ferreira, who sports a .483 career batting average and will enter her senior campaign 34 hits shy of the 200 plateau, came within two hits of tying the NCAA Division III national record for consecutive hits by notching 11 straight in three victories, and she posted more total bases (115) than at-bats (110) on the spring. Ferreira, who compiled 34 extra base hits on the season, was ranked in the top 10 in six categories nationally in Division III, including third in slugging percentage, fourth in batting average and eighth in both RBI per game and on-base percentage.

White is a two-time Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Pitcher of the Year. She led the conference in ERA (0.97), opposing batting average (.189) and strikeouts (264). The Raiders won the conference tournament in 2008 and advanced to the NCAA Tournament. White was named the conference tournament's MVP. Monica was also named to the NCAA All-Tournament team after leading the Raiders to the college's first-ever National Tournament victory.