With their first-team selections, both Colonials will now advance to the Academic All-America ballot.

This marks the fourth-consecutive year in which at least two Colonial softball student-athletes have been named academic all-district, an award which recognizes the nation's top student‐athletes for their combined performance on the field and in the classroom.

With the honor, Dubovec becomes just the second student-athlete from any sport in any Robert Morris history to garner three academic all-district honors in her career, joining RMU volleyball standout Amanda Graham, who accomplished the feat this past fall.

Patton's first academic all-district selection makes her the 10th distinct RMU softball player to have claimed this honor, a program total that is second-highest among Robert Morris sports.

Dubovec, who collected her second straight first team nod, is no stranger to earning academic awards during her time at Robert Morris. The applied mathematics major carries a 3.92 cumulative grade-point average, is the reigning Northeast Conference (NEC) Softball Scholar-Athlete of the Year and was also a national semifinalist for the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award earlier this year. Dubovec is in the process of acquiring her teaching certificate and is also pursuing a minor in actuarial science.

The senior is having another noteworthy offensive campaign as she is hitting .338 with a .379 on-base percentage and a .517 slugging mark. She has drilled a team-leading 14 extra-base hits, including a career-high six home runs, while collecting 28 RBI and 19 runs scored. Dubovec has also pitched 55 and two-thirds innings for RMU while holding opponents to a .250 batting average. Earlier this season, she became just the second player in program history to have won a weekly NEC honor in both the player of the week category and the pitcher of the week category.

Dubovec, a two-time all-conference selection, is a career .330 hitter who sits alone in fifth in all-time RBI (89) at Robert Morris and is tied for fourth in all-time home runs (17).

Patton has accumulated a 3.70 GPA thus far at Robert Morris even though she is double-majoring in marketing and management. The junior was named to the NEC Academic Honor Roll in each of her first two seasons and has compiled a 3.79 GPA since the conclusion of her sophomore year.

Patton is in the midst of the finest offensive season of her career as she leads the team in both batting average (.359) and on-base percentage (.393). When she is not busy getting on base, Patton is often advancing runners for the Colonials as she led the nation in sacrifice hits per game entering the week. She is tied for the team lead in runs scored with 25 and also displayed her versatility when an injury forced her to move over to center field earlier this season. Patton has reached base in over 40 percent of her plate appearances during conference play and sports a .444 on-base percentage when leading off an inning. The junior has also come through in clutch situations for RMU as she is hitting .400 with a .560 slugging percentage with runners on base and two outs and has twice scored the game-ending run in walkoff wins for the Colonials along with producing the walkoff hit herself in another game.

Patton is a career .325 hitter who has played in 132 games in her collegiate career. She has registered 120 career hits, put down 39 sacrifices and scored 73 runs for the Colonials.

These two awards give the softball program 15 academic all-district selections, including 10 in the past six years alone.