"I think it's a great honor for Hannah," said Islanders head coach Jake Schumann. "The experience is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and it is going to make her a better player during her senior season.

"I look forward to when she is back on campus and sharing her experiences with the other players as well as the coaches."

It will be a whirlwind for Schwarz before the start of her senior season with the Islanders. Starting on July 9 she will play in the Scotiabank Canadian Open Fastpitch International Championship where Team Canada will take on Australia, Japan, the United States and Venezuela from July 9-17 in Surrey, British Columbia. The teams will play a double round-robin format with all participating teams advancing to the championship round.

After that tournament, Team Canada will travel to Oklahoma City to play in the US World Cup of Softball VI on July 21-25 with the USA, Australia, the Czech Republic, Japan and Great Britain also participating in the event. The event will be televised on ESPN and its family of networks.

"I look forward to watching her on TV when she takes part in the Softball World Cup later this summer," said Schumann. "It just goes to show we're a program that's attracting a lot of quality talent. To have someone of her caliber is a blessing for Islanders softball."

It is the highest high in a year full of accomplishments for the Islanders player. Schwarz was also named the Southland Conference Softball Student-Athlete of the Year and received the Steve McCarty Citizenship Award from the league. That followed a junior season in which she was once again named First Team All-Southland and All-Region and became a Capital One Third Team Academic All-American.

Schwarz is just the third softball player in program history to be a part of a national team. Senior-to-be Greta Cecchetti is currently part of the Italian National Team and will compete in European competitions this summer. Former Islanders pitching great Sarah Pauly was also part of her country's team in 2007 after being named to the United States National Training Team.

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