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OKLAHOMA CITY - For the second season in a row, redshirt junior Rachel Garcia has been named a Top Three finalist for the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year award, as announced on Thursday.
Joining Garcia, the winner of last year's award, as finalists are Megan Good (James Madison) and Sydney Romero (Oklahoma). The 2019 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year will be announced next Tuesday in Oklahoma City.
The USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year award, which is considered the most prestigious honor in Division I women's collegiate softball, recognizes the outstanding athletic achievement by Division I female players across the country. Previous recipients of the award include UCLA alum Stacey Nuveman (2002) and Garcia.
Garcia leads the Bruins with a 23-1 record, a 1.02 earned run average and 238 strikeouts in 157 1/3 innings. In 19 starts, she has gone the distance 14 times, tossing six solo shutouts. Garcia, who also has three saves, has limited opponents to a .156 batting average. She has 11 double-figure strikeout games this season and combined on a no-hitter in the Los Angeles Regional opener last Friday against Weber State.
At the plate, the NFCA All-West Region First Team honoree is hitting .340 with eight home runs and 43 runs batted in. She also has a team-best 30 walks and four sacrifice flies to go with nine doubles and 30 runs scored.
The Pac-12 Conference Player and Pitcher of the Year ranks second nationally in earned run average, fourth in strikeout-to-walk ratio (7.68), eighth in hits allowed per seven innings (3.87), 19th in strikeouts and tied for 24th in wins. Garcia was named Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week four times, as well as NFCA National, USA Softball National and Pac-12 Player of the Week once.
The Bruins open up the Los Angeles Super Regional against James Madison on Friday at Easton Stadium at 6 p.m. The game will be televised on ESPNU and will feature free live audio on UCLABruins.com.
OKLAHOMA CITY - For the second season in a row, redshirt junior Rachel Garcia has been named a Top Three finalist for the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year award, as announced on Thursday.
Joining Garcia, the winner of last year's award, as finalists are Megan Good (James Madison) and Sydney Romero (Oklahoma). The 2019 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year will be announced next Tuesday in Oklahoma City.
The USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year award, which is considered the most prestigious honor in Division I women's collegiate softball, recognizes the outstanding athletic achievement by Division I female players across the country. Previous recipients of the award include UCLA alum Stacey Nuveman (2002) and Garcia.
Garcia leads the Bruins with a 23-1 record, a 1.02 earned run average and 238 strikeouts in 157 1/3 innings. In 19 starts, she has gone the distance 14 times, tossing six solo shutouts. Garcia, who also has three saves, has limited opponents to a .156 batting average. She has 11 double-figure strikeout games this season and combined on a no-hitter in the Los Angeles Regional opener last Friday against Weber State.
At the plate, the NFCA All-West Region First Team honoree is hitting .340 with eight home runs and 43 runs batted in. She also has a team-best 30 walks and four sacrifice flies to go with nine doubles and 30 runs scored.
The Pac-12 Conference Player and Pitcher of the Year ranks second nationally in earned run average, fourth in strikeout-to-walk ratio (7.68), eighth in hits allowed per seven innings (3.87), 19th in strikeouts and tied for 24th in wins. Garcia was named Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week four times, as well as NFCA National, USA Softball National and Pac-12 Player of the Week once.
The Bruins open up the Los Angeles Super Regional against James Madison on Friday at Easton Stadium at 6 p.m. The game will be televised on ESPNU and will feature free live audio on UCLABruins.com.