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MARSHALL, Minn. - The Southwest Minnesota State softball team won its fourth straight Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference championship and fifth in six years on Tuesday with a doubleheader sweep of Concordia University, St. Paul.  SMSU will now host the NSIC tournament this weekend as the No. 1 seed.  The Mustangs open the tournament on Friday at 12 p.m. against No. 8 seed Upper Iowa.

Northern Sun honors: The NSIC announced Thursday that Amanda Bukhart (Omaha, Neb.) Amanda Johnson (Fremont, Neb.) and Amanda Tucci (Oakdale, Minn.) have been named to the 2009 All-Conference first team.  Burkhart was also named NSIC Player of the Year, while Johnson grabbed NSIC Pitcher of the Year honors for the fourth consecutive season.

Player of the Year:  Amanda Burkhart has put together a stellar campaign at the plate for SMSU in 2009, leading the NSIC in seven different offensive categories. She holds the conference's top batting average (.506), slugging percentage (1.065) and on base percentage (.581). She is also tops in the conference in hits (39), RBIs (38), home runs (13) and total bases (82). The SMSU record book has been a familiar place for the senior; this season, she's set single-season records for home runs with 16 and RBIs with 52.  Burkhart also currently has the SMSU single-season record in slugging percentage with .752. In the Mustang career record book, she has moved into the No. 1 spot in home runs with 32, RBIs with 155 and doubles with 42. The right fielder currently leads the Mustangs with a .383 batting average, 57 hits, 38 runs, 16 home runs and 52 RBIs. Her .752 slugging percentage and .446 on base percentage are also Mustang bests. Burkhart was named NSIC Player of the Week twice this season

Pitcher of the Year:  Now a four-time NSIC Pitcher of the Year honoree, Amanda Johnson's 2009 crusade in the circle was another successful one. The senior finished this regular conference season as the NSIC's leader in wins with 14 and ERA with 1.01. Johnson held NSIC opponents to a .192 batting average and struck out 116 of them in 96.2 innings. The senior was the Mustangs' ace on the mound, going 17-9, posting a 1.63 ERA, striking out 191 and holding opponents to a .216 batting average in 171.2 innings pitched in 2009.  Johnson, a senior from Fremont, Neb., also tossed her first career no-hitter this season and tossed her 1,000th career strikeout—the latter a feat only 15 other players in NCAA Division II history have accomplished and only she has reached at SMSU. No doubt an icon in Mustang softball lore, Johnson extended her lead in the records, both single season and career, that she already holds at SMSU.

First teamer:  Amanda Tucci has had a big year at the plate for SMSU, hitting .310 with nine home runs, 40 hits and 39 RBIs.  Her 2009 effort at the plate made its way into the SMSU record book as her nine home runs and 39 RBIs this year are put her in the No. 5 spot in both categories for a single-season output.  In the career record book, the first baseman is in the No. 2 spot in career home runs at SMSU with 30 and third in career RBIs with 122.  This is Tucci's second first team honor; she also has an honorable mention certificate.

Senior momentum:  Four seniors guided the Mustangs through their 2009 campaign, and all are seasoned veterans.  Burkhart, Tucci, Amanda Johnson (Fremont, Neb.) and Jessica Paczosa (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) have earned 10 all-conference nods between the four of them.

Rank 'em:  SMSU was picked to finish third in the NSIC Preseason Poll as voted on by the league's 14 head coaches.  The Mustangs received 164 points in the poll, just one point behind the No. 2 team, Minnesota State, Mankato.  SMSU also received three first-place votes.

He's back:  Shawn Semler returns for his sixth season as the head coach of the Mustangs.  He's led SMSU to five conference championships and three NCAA Regional Tournament appearances.  Semler has also coached 27 all-conference performers and been named the NSIC's top coach three times.