Moon Township, Pa. - Freshman shortstop Jessica Calderone (Wilmington, Del. / St. Marks) of the Robert Morris University softball team was named the 2008 Northeast Conference (NEC) Rookie of the Year Thursday in a vote by league head coaches, while a trio of Colonials earned All-NEC accolades.

Named to the All-NEC First Team were junior infielder Susan Perich (Center, Pa. / Center) and junior outfielder Brooke Panepinto (Belle Vernon, Pa. / Belle Vernon), while freshman infielder Annie Dubovec (Chagrin Falls, Ohio / Kenston) was named to the All-NEC Second Team.   

Calderone becomes the first Colonial to earn the league's rookie of the year since Kali Byers in 2003, and she enters the 2008 NEC Tournament leading the Colonials with a .404 batting average, the fifth highest average by a freshman in Division I. Calderone ranks second on the club in runs with 28 and has also added five doubles, two triples, three home runs and 15 RBI in 2008 while being successful on six of her nine stolen base attempts.

Calderone owns the longest hitting streak by a Colonial this season at 13 games, and her 18 multi-hit games is also tops on the club. Calderone's batting average of .404 also ranks as the second highest average in Robert Morris single-season history.   

Perich, in her third season as the starting third baseman, earns her first postseason accolade from the NEC. On the 2008 campaign she is hitting .315 in 46 games and ranks second on the club in doubles (8) and third in RBI (22) while owning four home runs and a slugging percentage of .472. Against league competition Perich is hitting .396 with two home runs and a team-high 15 RBI.  

Panepinto earns her second straight All-NEC honor, as she was also named to the All-NEC First Team in 2007. RMU's steady presence in center field, Panepinto has hit .359 so far this season with a team-high nine home runs while also leading RMU in runs (30) and ranking second in RBI (26). Her nine round trippers is tied for the second highest single-season total in school history, and entering the 2008 NEC Tournament Panepinto owns a career batting average of .353, which would establish a new Colonials career record. Against NEC foes Panepinto owns a .389 batting average with five home runs and 13 RBI.  

Dubovec, named to the All-NEC Second Team at first base, has blossomed as a hitter in the second half of the 2008 campaign. She enters the NEC Tournament owning a batting average of .367 in 30 games with three doubles, a home run and 12 RBI. In 13 contests against league opponents, Dubovec leads Robert Morris with a .485 batting average while owning a pair of doubles, a home run and 10 RBI. Dubovec has hit safely in 13 of her last 16 games entering the tourney, hitting .429 (21-for-49) over that span. 

Robert Morris, led by 18th-year head coach Craig Coleman, M.D., owns an overall record of 28-18 and enters the 2008 NEC Tournament as the No. 2 seed. The Colonials will square off with No. 3 seed and in-state rival Saint Francis (Pa.) Friday, May 8, at 12:30 p.m. in Brooklyn, N.Y. The tournament is being hosted by Long Island, the 2008 NEC regular-season champion.