Ramstein junior pitching ace Kelsey Freeman positioned herself for a four-year sweep Wednesday when she was voted an All-Europe softball first-teamer for the third straight year.

Freeman, who struck out 94 batters in the 50.2 innings she pitched for the Division I champions in 2012, was joined on the first team by three other members of the 2011 Top 12 – senior pitchers Deraj’ McClinton and Taylor Hall of Vilseck, and her Ramstein team- and mound-mate, sophomore Katherine Enyeart.

Four 2011 second-teamers – senior Giovanna Trigg of Division II champion Naples and sophomores Amber Marvin of Patch, Reagan McCurn of Kaiserslautern and Rylee McKinney of AFNORTH were promoted to the first team this time around by a panel of softball coaches chaired by DODDS-Europe athletic coordinator Karen Seadore. The panel returned three 2011 second-teamers to the 2012 second 12 – Taylor Bonenclark of AFNORTH, Apryl Jackson of Wiesbaden and Shannon Walsh of Naples.

The panel chose 14 non seniors for the Top 24 – eight sophomores and six juniors. Notable among the juniors selected were Rota pitcher Natalia Rivera, the only D-III player on the roster who returned to the second team after a one-year absence, and Schweinfurt third baseman Ashley Dowdy, the first-year school’s first All-European.

Fourteen players from D-I schools, topped by Kaiserslautern’s four picks, and nine from D-II schools, four of them from Naples, rounded out the squads.

Here are the 2012 All-Europe softball teams:
 

First Team

Second team

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