2023 Pac-12 Player of the Year Maya Brady
Brady Headlines All-Pac-12 Picks as Player of the Year
May 10, 2023 | Softball
SAN FRANCISCO – UCLA softball redshirt junior Maya Brady has been named the 2023 Pac-12 Player of the Year, as announced by the conference office on Wednesday.
Brady brings in UCLA's record 18th Pac-12 Player of the Year title and is the first Bruin recipient since Rachel Garcia who won the award three years in a row from 2018-2021. She is the ninth player in program history to be named Pac-12 Player of the Year.
Redshirt senior Megan Faraimo has been honored as the Pac-12 Pitcher of the Year for back-to-back seasons, accomplishing that feat for the first time in program history.
Infielder Jordan Woolery has been named Pac-12 Freshman of the Year, becoming the ninth Bruin to win that award and first since Faraimo in 2019. UCLA's roster now totes four Pac-12 Freshman of the Year honorees in Faraimo, Janelle Meoño (2021) and Aaliyah Jordan (2018).
The Shelly Carlin UCLA Head Softball Coach Kelly Inouye-Perez has won her third Pac-12 Coach of the Year award (2010, 2012), tying her predecessor and fellow UCLA Athletic Hall of Famer Sue Enquist's mark.
Brady, Faraimo, Woolery and freshman Megan Grant have been named All-Pac-12 First Team selections. Sixth-year Brooke Yanez and junior Sharlize Palacios were listed as second-team honorees while sophomore Savannah Pola and redshirt senior Anna Vines made the third team.
UCLA dominated the All-Pac-12 Freshman Team with four selections: Woolery, Grant, Kennedy Powell and Taylor Tinsley. No other school had more than two players listed.
Palacios was the Bruins' lone All-Pac-12 Defensive Team selection.
The Pac-12 recognizes 20 players as first-team selections and 10 players as second-team and third-team selections. Faraimo is just the 10th player in UCLA history to earn All-Pac-12 First Team four times in a career. This marks Brady's second first-team nod and third All-Pac-12 selection overall. Also hauling in her third All-Pac-12 recognition is Palacios.
UCLA (four players), Utah (four players), Stanford (three players), California (two players), Oregon (two players), Arizona (two players), Washington (two players) and Arizona State all had student-athletes selected to the 20-person first team.
About UCLA's All-Conference Honorees
Maya Brady
Brady enters the inaugural Pac-12 Softball Tournament as the conference batting champion with a .456 average in the regular season. She led the team and ranked second in the conference with 16 home runs and 56 runs batted in. Brady also leads all Pac-12 players with an .873 slugging percentage and 31 extra-base hits.
The Thousand Oaks, Calif. native is one of just two players in the country hitting for a .450-plus AVG with at least 55 RBI and 15 HR. She has three multi-homer games this season, stretching her career total to five.
Brady's .456 average currently ranks ninth best in a single season in UCLA history. She is accomplishing all of this while undertaking a new position at shortstop.
Megan Faraimo
Faraimo owns an NCAA-leading 28 victories this season. She also leads the conference with 215 strikeouts and ranks second with a 1.11 earned run average. Faraimo has earned a victory in each of her last 15 appearances dating back to March 25. Earlier this season, she set a career-long scoreless inning streak of 35.2 innings that was snapped on April 16.
Faraimo is attempting to become the eighth UCLA pitcher to record a 30-win campaign and the first since Ally Carda in her senior season in 2015. The Oceanside, Calif. native picked up her 20th win of the season at Arizona on April 14, achieving the feat a full month earlier than she did in her 2022 campaign. Faraimo now has back-to-back 20-win, 200-strikeout seasons.
She has been the ace of a pitching staff that led the conference in nearly every significant statistical category: wins (50), earned run average (1.56), strikeouts (379), shutouts (20) and opponent batting average (.187).
Faraimo has thrown two solo no-hitters this year, bringing her career total to seven which ranks second most in UCLA history.
Jordan Woolery
Woolery, UCLA's every-day first baseman, led all Pac-12 freshmen and ranked third in the conference with a .409 batting average. She also paced Pac-12 freshmen in slugging percentage with a .691 mark and ranked second behind teammate Grant in runs batted in with 45.
Woolery belted her first career home run with a grand slam off Alabama's Montana Fouts on Feb. 17. She recorded the first multi-homer game of her career with two longballs against Oregon State on April 6.
For 26 straight games, the Walnut Creek, Calif. product held down the No. 3 spot in the lineup before missing last weekend's competition. Woolery turned up the heat in Pac-12 play with a .427 average which was tied with Brady for second in the conference.
Head Coach Kelly Inouye-Perez
Inouye-Perez rattled off two separate winning streaks of 17-plus games in her 17th season at the helm of the program. The Bruins are currently riding a 23-game winning streak heading into the postseason.
UCLA closed the conference slate with five Pac-12 sweeps to stretch its conference winning streak to 17 games which is its longest in a single season since 2002. The Bruins' 21 conference wins are its most in a season since 1999. For just the second time in the last 20 years, UCLA has taken the season series against all eight Pac-12 opponents (2021).
Megan Grant
Grant, the other half of UCLA's impressive freshman tandem, ranks second among all freshmen in the country with 54 runs batted in. She leads all freshmen in the Pac-12 and ranks second on the squad with 12 home runs.
The San Bruno, Calif. product has bat lead-off in UCLA's last 19 games and leads the team with 19 RBI, 47 total bases and 12 extra-base hits in that span. Grant has belted two lead-off home runs since taking over the new role. Earlier this season, Grant recorded a team-long 24-game reached base streak and 14-game hitting streak.
In conference play, Grant led the Pac-12 with nine home runs, 16 extra-base hits, an .889 slugging percentage and 26 RBI.
Sharlize Palacios
Palacios, the Bruins' primary starting catcher, has hit for a .311 average with 10 home runs in her first season in Westwood. Her season highlight was a go-ahead, three-run home run in the seventh inning against rival Arizona on April 15. Palacios went on to hit another three-run blast in her next at-bat in game three on April 16.
Brooke Yanez
The left-handed pitcher Yanez has pieced together a 15-1 record with a 2.02 earned run average in 2023. She earned Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week honors on March 13 after picking up two wins over 11.0 innings in the Bruins' series at California.
Anna Vines
Vines is receiving the first All-Pac-12 recognition of her career. The UCLA second baseman is hitting for a career-best .348 average this season and is just five hits shy of her career-high 36 hits set last year. Vines was one of four Bruins to bat above .400 in conference play, ranking third on the team with a .408 mark.
Savannah Pola
Pola has made the list for the All-Pac-12 Third Team for the second year in a row. The Bruins' utility is hitting for a .341 average with 10 doubles, two triples and one home run. Pola has also recorded 25 runs batted in.
Kennedy Powell
Powell, who has platooned between the corner outfield positions and third base this year, is one of three Bruins batting above .400 this season with a .408 clip. The Conroe, Texas native has scored 22 runs and brought home 21 RBI.
Taylor Tinsley
Tinsley tossed a no-hitter in her collegiate debut versus CSU Bakersfield on Feb. 11. She joined Amanda Freed (1999-02) as the only Bruins to throw a no-hitter in their first career appearance in the circle. Freed no-hit Santa Clara in her pitching debut on Feb. 5, 1999. This season, Tinsley owns a 1.47 ERA over 57.1 innings and 20 appearances.
Brady brings in UCLA's record 18th Pac-12 Player of the Year title and is the first Bruin recipient since Rachel Garcia who won the award three years in a row from 2018-2021. She is the ninth player in program history to be named Pac-12 Player of the Year.
Redshirt senior Megan Faraimo has been honored as the Pac-12 Pitcher of the Year for back-to-back seasons, accomplishing that feat for the first time in program history.
Infielder Jordan Woolery has been named Pac-12 Freshman of the Year, becoming the ninth Bruin to win that award and first since Faraimo in 2019. UCLA's roster now totes four Pac-12 Freshman of the Year honorees in Faraimo, Janelle Meoño (2021) and Aaliyah Jordan (2018).
The Shelly Carlin UCLA Head Softball Coach Kelly Inouye-Perez has won her third Pac-12 Coach of the Year award (2010, 2012), tying her predecessor and fellow UCLA Athletic Hall of Famer Sue Enquist's mark.
Brady, Faraimo, Woolery and freshman Megan Grant have been named All-Pac-12 First Team selections. Sixth-year Brooke Yanez and junior Sharlize Palacios were listed as second-team honorees while sophomore Savannah Pola and redshirt senior Anna Vines made the third team.
UCLA dominated the All-Pac-12 Freshman Team with four selections: Woolery, Grant, Kennedy Powell and Taylor Tinsley. No other school had more than two players listed.
Palacios was the Bruins' lone All-Pac-12 Defensive Team selection.
The Pac-12 recognizes 20 players as first-team selections and 10 players as second-team and third-team selections. Faraimo is just the 10th player in UCLA history to earn All-Pac-12 First Team four times in a career. This marks Brady's second first-team nod and third All-Pac-12 selection overall. Also hauling in her third All-Pac-12 recognition is Palacios.
UCLA (four players), Utah (four players), Stanford (three players), California (two players), Oregon (two players), Arizona (two players), Washington (two players) and Arizona State all had student-athletes selected to the 20-person first team.
About UCLA's All-Conference Honorees
Maya Brady
Brady enters the inaugural Pac-12 Softball Tournament as the conference batting champion with a .456 average in the regular season. She led the team and ranked second in the conference with 16 home runs and 56 runs batted in. Brady also leads all Pac-12 players with an .873 slugging percentage and 31 extra-base hits.
The Thousand Oaks, Calif. native is one of just two players in the country hitting for a .450-plus AVG with at least 55 RBI and 15 HR. She has three multi-homer games this season, stretching her career total to five.
Brady's .456 average currently ranks ninth best in a single season in UCLA history. She is accomplishing all of this while undertaking a new position at shortstop.
Megan Faraimo
Faraimo owns an NCAA-leading 28 victories this season. She also leads the conference with 215 strikeouts and ranks second with a 1.11 earned run average. Faraimo has earned a victory in each of her last 15 appearances dating back to March 25. Earlier this season, she set a career-long scoreless inning streak of 35.2 innings that was snapped on April 16.
Faraimo is attempting to become the eighth UCLA pitcher to record a 30-win campaign and the first since Ally Carda in her senior season in 2015. The Oceanside, Calif. native picked up her 20th win of the season at Arizona on April 14, achieving the feat a full month earlier than she did in her 2022 campaign. Faraimo now has back-to-back 20-win, 200-strikeout seasons.
She has been the ace of a pitching staff that led the conference in nearly every significant statistical category: wins (50), earned run average (1.56), strikeouts (379), shutouts (20) and opponent batting average (.187).
Faraimo has thrown two solo no-hitters this year, bringing her career total to seven which ranks second most in UCLA history.
Jordan Woolery
Woolery, UCLA's every-day first baseman, led all Pac-12 freshmen and ranked third in the conference with a .409 batting average. She also paced Pac-12 freshmen in slugging percentage with a .691 mark and ranked second behind teammate Grant in runs batted in with 45.
Woolery belted her first career home run with a grand slam off Alabama's Montana Fouts on Feb. 17. She recorded the first multi-homer game of her career with two longballs against Oregon State on April 6.
For 26 straight games, the Walnut Creek, Calif. product held down the No. 3 spot in the lineup before missing last weekend's competition. Woolery turned up the heat in Pac-12 play with a .427 average which was tied with Brady for second in the conference.
Head Coach Kelly Inouye-Perez
Inouye-Perez rattled off two separate winning streaks of 17-plus games in her 17th season at the helm of the program. The Bruins are currently riding a 23-game winning streak heading into the postseason.
UCLA closed the conference slate with five Pac-12 sweeps to stretch its conference winning streak to 17 games which is its longest in a single season since 2002. The Bruins' 21 conference wins are its most in a season since 1999. For just the second time in the last 20 years, UCLA has taken the season series against all eight Pac-12 opponents (2021).
Megan Grant
Grant, the other half of UCLA's impressive freshman tandem, ranks second among all freshmen in the country with 54 runs batted in. She leads all freshmen in the Pac-12 and ranks second on the squad with 12 home runs.
The San Bruno, Calif. product has bat lead-off in UCLA's last 19 games and leads the team with 19 RBI, 47 total bases and 12 extra-base hits in that span. Grant has belted two lead-off home runs since taking over the new role. Earlier this season, Grant recorded a team-long 24-game reached base streak and 14-game hitting streak.
In conference play, Grant led the Pac-12 with nine home runs, 16 extra-base hits, an .889 slugging percentage and 26 RBI.
Sharlize Palacios
Palacios, the Bruins' primary starting catcher, has hit for a .311 average with 10 home runs in her first season in Westwood. Her season highlight was a go-ahead, three-run home run in the seventh inning against rival Arizona on April 15. Palacios went on to hit another three-run blast in her next at-bat in game three on April 16.
Brooke Yanez
The left-handed pitcher Yanez has pieced together a 15-1 record with a 2.02 earned run average in 2023. She earned Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week honors on March 13 after picking up two wins over 11.0 innings in the Bruins' series at California.
Anna Vines
Vines is receiving the first All-Pac-12 recognition of her career. The UCLA second baseman is hitting for a career-best .348 average this season and is just five hits shy of her career-high 36 hits set last year. Vines was one of four Bruins to bat above .400 in conference play, ranking third on the team with a .408 mark.
Savannah Pola
Pola has made the list for the All-Pac-12 Third Team for the second year in a row. The Bruins' utility is hitting for a .341 average with 10 doubles, two triples and one home run. Pola has also recorded 25 runs batted in.
Kennedy Powell
Powell, who has platooned between the corner outfield positions and third base this year, is one of three Bruins batting above .400 this season with a .408 clip. The Conroe, Texas native has scored 22 runs and brought home 21 RBI.
Taylor Tinsley
Tinsley tossed a no-hitter in her collegiate debut versus CSU Bakersfield on Feb. 11. She joined Amanda Freed (1999-02) as the only Bruins to throw a no-hitter in their first career appearance in the circle. Freed no-hit Santa Clara in her pitching debut on Feb. 5, 1999. This season, Tinsley owns a 1.47 ERA over 57.1 innings and 20 appearances.
Players Mentioned
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OF
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OF
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UTIL
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