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OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. - Senior Kylee Perez and redshirt sophomore Rachel Garcia are two of 50 players named to the 2018 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Watch List, as announced on Wednesday.
The USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year award enters its 17th season and recognizes outstanding athletic achievement by Division I female collegiate softball players across the country. Previous recipients of the award include the first honoree in 2002, UCLA's Stacey Nuveman. Four Bruins have been Top 3 finalists for the award (Nuveman, 2002; Natasha Watley, 2002-2003; Megan Langenfeld, 2010; Ally Carda, 2014).
The preseason Watch List includes 23 seniors, 18 juniors and nine sophomores, with freshmen ineligible for consideration (freshmen can be considered for the award once they have competed at the collegiate level). The Top 25 finalists will be announced on April 25. An athlete does not have to be on the Watch List to be considered for the Top 25, but the eventual USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year will come from the Top 25 finalists. The Top 10 finalists will be named on May 9, with the Top 3 announced on May 23. The POY will be revealed on May 29.
Garcia was named the NFCA National Freshman of the Year in 2017, as well as NFCA Second Team All-American, Pac-12 Conference Freshman of the Year, NFCA All-West Region Second Team, All-Pac-12 First Team and All-Pac-12 Freshman Team. She went 23-9 with three saves, a 1.87 earned run average and a team-best 212 strikeouts in 202 2/3 innings in the circle, tying for 26th nationally in strikeouts, tying for 28th in wins and tying for 48th in saves. Garcia also led all Pac-12 pitchers in strikeouts, earning three Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week awards, four Pac-12 Freshman of the Week honors and one USA Softball National Player of the Week nod. At the plate, Garcia hit .325 with eight home runs and 29 runs batted in, placing third with 21 walks and tied for third with 12 doubles. She had 15 multiple-hit games and eight multi-RBI contests.
Perez, a three-time NFCA All-Region and three-time All-Pac-12 selection, including First Team for both as a junior in 2017, led the Bruins with a .408 batting average and two triples. She was also second with 15 doubles, 51 runs scored, a .433 on base percentage, nine stolen bases and five hit by pitches, adding three home runs and 31 runs batted in. Perez led the team with 25 multiple-hit games to go with 10 multi-RBI contests. She was seventh in the nation in hits with 86 and 50th in batting average, while also ranking first among Pac-12 players in hits and fourth in average.
The fourth-ranked Bruins open their 2018 season next Friday, Feb. 9 at Easton Stadium with a doubleheader against Maryland and Middle Tennessee, starting at 3:30 p.m. Live audio will be available for both contests at UCLABruins.com.
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