July 30, 2008

Contact: Brian McCann

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Fresh off winning the 2008 Horizon League regular season title, the Viking softball team received a big boost on Wednesday when head coach Angie Nicholson announced the addition of two players for the 2009 season.

Joining the Vikings are junior infielder Mimi Mahon (Hamilton, OH/Hamilton/Rio Grande) and freshman outfielder Alicia Nichols (Kingston, OH/Logan Elm HS). Mahon will have two seasons of eligibility remaining while Nichols will have four.

The duo joins Brandy Holmes (Oregon, OH/Clay) and Megan Bashak (Elyria, OH), both of whom signed with the Vikings earlier in the year.

"I am excited to have both Mimi and Alicia as part of our program," Nicholson said. "We identified a couple of positions where we needed to add a player and these two should really fit in well."

Mahon, a two-year starter at the University of Rio Grande in Rio Grande, Ohio, ranked fourth in the conference with a team-best .438 batting average this past season (56-128). She hit three homeruns with a team-high 38 RBIs, 11 doubles and a .609 slugging percentage. She struck out just twice and scored 33 runs.

As a freshman, she hit .351 with two homeruns and a team-best 30 RBIs to earn a spot on the league all-freshman team. She has a 3.59 GPA majoring in integrated mathematics.

"Mimi is a big bat who is capable of playing the corner infield spots as well as catcher," Nicholson said.

Nichols, who lettered in five sports during her career at Logan Elm, was a first team all-league and all-district choice this past spring after leading the team in batting average.

Besides her three letters in softball, Nichols also earned three letters in basketball and one each in volleyball soccer and track. On the hardwood, she was an honorable mention all-league choice as a senior.

"Alicia is a speedy outfielder who plays a lot like Whitney Willard who just graduated," Nicholson said. "Her speed allows her to make plays defensively while creating opportunities offensively. She'll fit into our lineup well."

Cleveland State returns all but one regular from the 2008 team that won 30 games for a school-record third straight year, going 31-18 and winning the Horizon League regular season title for the first time in school history.