July 13, 2004

EAST LANSING, Mich. - Michigan State softball coach Jacquie Joseph signed pitcher Rachel Turney of Lansing Everett High School to a National Letter of Intent for the 2005 season, she announced Tuesday. Turney joins one spring signee, Abby Lincoln, and seven fall signees, Amanda Carlson, Heidi Charon, Caitlin Mahoney, Nikki Nicosia, Traci Nicosia, Lesley Noel and Amy Serota, all of whom will join the Spartans next year.

"We're very excited to add Rachel Turney to this year's signing class. Like the rest of our signees, Rachel is clearly a talented player," said Joseph. "Our experienced lineup each of the last two years has been our strength, and we lost a number of quality players to graduation this year. We feel that Rachel and the rest of our incoming class will step in and be able to make an immediate contribution to our team."

Turney played at East Lansing Community College in the 2004 season, where the pitcher posted a 16-0 record and was named a NJCAA first-team All-American.

Rachel Turney, P, R/R, Lansing, Mich./Everett HS

Three-year letterwinner at Lansing Everett, where she played for Jeff Cheadle... Named all-conference in 2001, 2002 and 2003... Earned all-district, all-region and all-state accolades in her junior and senior years... Earned Lansing State Journal Softball Player of the Year honors in 2003, and was named to the paper's dream team in 2002 and 2003... Was named the Softball Classic co-MVP in 2002... Three-time NFCA Academic All-American as a sophomore, junior and senior... Team won the district title in her sophomore, junior and senior seasons... Posted a 0.92 earned run average as a sophomore, a 0.74 ERA in her junior year and a 0.33 ERA during her senior season... As a sophomore, she struck out 308 batters and threw one no-hitter on her way to notching 23 wins... Her junior year brought 299 strikeouts, two no-hitters and 30 wins, while her senior year saw her strike out 445 batters en route to 31 wins, three no-hitters and three perfect games... Batted .381 with 29 RBI as a sophomore, hit .455 with 30 batted in during her junior year... Notched a .496 batting average with 10 home runs in her senior year... Holds Lansing Everett records for strikeouts, hits, earned run average and wins... Also lettered in basketball (2001-03) and volleyball (2001, 2003)... Was co-captain of the volleyball team as a senior... Captained the volleyball team in 2002 and 2003... Was a Lansing School District Talent Development Program World Class Scholar... Earned MHSAA Scholar-Athlete Award... Earned all-conference honors in basketball and volleyball, and was an honorable mention all-state selection in basketball... At Lansing Community College (2004), posted a 16-0 record as a pitcher, as her team went 35-0 on the season... Named NJCAA first-team All-America... Earned All-Michigan Community College Athletic Association honors... Named to the Western Conference, NCCAA All-State and NJCAA Region 12 teams... Batted better than .400 in her freshman year of eligibility... Daughter of Harry and Mary Turney... Plans to major in pre-medicine.