2015 Softball All-Conference Team
After its historic season, CSUN dominated the 2015 Big West softball major awards, earning at least a share of four of the six honors including Player of the Year in Katie Hooper, Freshman Pitcher of the Year Zoe Conley, Co-Freshman Field Player of the Year Savannah Horvath and Coach of the Year Tairia Flowers. Long Beach State earned two accolades of its own in Co-Pitcher of the Year Christina Clermont and Defensive Player of the Year Shayna Kimbrough. Cal State Fullerton and UC Riverside completed the recognitions UCR’s Chelsea Ponce earned Co-Pitcher of the Year and CSF’s Samantha Vandiver earned Co-Freshman of the Year.
Sophomore Hooper (Sun Valley, Calif./Burbank HS) is the first-ever Matador to be named the Big West’s top offensive player of the year while she led the league in RBI (55) and home runs (15), ranking third-best with a .391 batting average and fourth-best with 68 knocks. The utility player’s 55 runs batted in tie for fourth-best in a single season in the Big West record book while her 15 home runs tie for sixth.
Conley (Berkeley, Calif./Salesian HS) joined Hooper as the first Matador to claim a particular award when she earned CSUN’s first-ever Freshman Pitcher of the Year honor after boasting a league second-best 1.58 ERA in 150.1 innings of work. The rookie’s 19 wins are third-best in league while her 129 strikeouts are fifth. The freshman was named conference Pitcher of the Week three times this season to pace the Matadors in the weekly recognitions.
For the second time in CSUN history the Matadors produced the Freshman Field Player of the Year as Horvath (Las Vegas, Nev./Centennial HS) earned the honor this season. The rookie led her team with 15 doubles and recorded the second-best marks on her team in slugging percentage (.611) and round trippers (9). The first year hit for a .335 average while her 13 stolen bases ranked second-best by all freshmen in the league.
Flowers directed CSUN to its third Big West championship – the first for Flowers in her fifth season at the helm. The Matadors’ historic campaign represents the first regular season title for CSUN since 2010 when the Matadors were named co-champions with UC Davis, and the first out-right crown since 1998. While the Matadors made history recording their first 40-win season for the first time as a Big West member, Flowers made history as the first Matador to be named Coach of the Year since CSUN joined the Big West in 1997. At 41-15 overall, the Matadors dominated nearly every offensive category in conference to lead the league in runs (279), hits (481), doubles (73), triples (16), batting average (.313) and slugging percentage (.465). Under Flowers’ direction, the Matadors broke their single-season record for home runs after recording 43 heading into the postseason. Flowers guided her squad to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1998 and will play at the UCLA Regional Friday, May 15 through Sunday, May 17.
In the circle, Clermont (Carlsbad, Calif./San Marcos HS) garnered Co-Pitcher of the Year honors for her 20-7 campaign in 190.2 innings of work. The sophomore commanded the strike zone with a 2.35 ERA for 179 strikeouts, which rank sixth in the LBSU record book for Ks in a single season. Clermont’s 6.57 strikeouts per outing came in at No. 2 in league while she paced the 49ers in wins, earned run average, innings pitched and complete games (19). She is the eighth different pitcher and eleventh recipient from the Beach to receive Pitcher of the Year and the first since 2011. Her four Pitcher of the Week honors in 2015 ranked second for most weekly honors garnered this campaign.
Representing the Highlanders on the list, Ponce earned Riverside’s first-ever Big West post season award as she was named Pitcher of the Year for helping UCR to its best-ever season in its Division I era and its first winning record as a member of the league. While Ponce contributed to the Highlander’s sweeping two Big West opponents for the first time in UCR history, the junior notched a conference-best 1.34 ERA and helped her team break six single-season records: winning percentage (.696), fewest losses (17), most wins (39), lowest ERA (2.13), fielding percentage (.972) and least errors (49). In one of the most illustrious campaigns by any Highlander since the program transitioned to DI, Ponce set nine single-season marks in the Riverside record book and now owns the most pitching records for the Highlanders all-time – ERA, wins, appearances (48), games started (41), innings pitched (261.0), walks (124), strikeouts (188), at bats (946) and batting average (.200).
For the second time in her career, Kimbrough (Oxnard, Calif./Frontier HS) was named the Defensive Player of the Year, making 2015 the third season in which the senior garnered a post-season award after being named Big West Player of the Year in 2013. The shortstop recorded a .952 fielding percentage in 21 Big West games, committing just four errors in 83 total chances. On the offensive end, Kimbrough led the 49ers with a .368 average, the sixth-best mark in league. With 60 hits on the year, the shortstop surpassed the 200-hit career mark, claiming second-most all-time by a 49er with 255 hits in her decorated career.
Rounding out the awards was Vandiver (Huntington Beach, Calif./Huntington Beach HS) who earned Fullerton’s first-ever Freshman Field Player of the Year. The rookie hit for a conference-leading .459 average to claim the second-best single-season batting title for the Titans all-time. The outfielder earned Player of the Week honors earlier this season and recorded CSF’s longest hit-streak at 24 games. Her 62 hits ranked fifth in the Big West. The first year also recorded a conference second-best .496 on-base percentage and led the circuit with 32 hits in 21 conference games.
The complete 2015 Big West All-Conference teams are listed in the link located at the top of the page.