2025 Big West Softball Awards
The Big West announced its 2025 award winners and all-conference teams on the eve of its inaugural Championship, following the conclusion of the regular season three days ago. Our awards and teams were voted on by our head coaches around the league.   

Cal State Fullerton highlights the representatives on the major award list with four honorees. Ava Arce earned The Big West Field Player of the Year accolade as the Titans also swept the first-year category when Nataly Lozano and Eva Hurtado claimed the Freshman Field Player and Freshman Pitcher of the Year awards, respectively. Gina Oaks-Garcia won Big West Coach of the Year to round out the prestigious honors for CSF. 

Malaya Johnson joins the list of major award winners as The Big West Pitcher of the Year to represent UC Santa Barbara and Hawai'i had Izabella Martinez selected as The Big West Defensive Player of the Year.  

Arce capped off the 2025 campaign as the conference leader in overall batting average at .414, slugging percentage (.701), OPS (1.1142), hits (65) and RBI (60). The junior hit a league best nine of 11 home runs in conference play and came in second in conference average, hitting a .407 clip. The 60 total RBIs in 2025 rewrote the Titan record book as a new program high. Arce was recognized as Big West Field Player of the Week four times, the most of any student-athlete this season.  

Johnson struck out a Big West best 75 batters during league play this season while spinning the second-best ERA at 1.97 in 117.1 innings pitched. The pitcher posted the highest number of wins (13) in the circle in conference play for the Gauchos.  Johnson becomes the third Guacho and first since 2009 to take home the Big West Pitcher of the Year accolade.

Martinez led a Hawai'i team that finished atop the conference in overall fielding percentage (0.976) and second best in league play (0.973) in 2025. Behind the plate, the catchr recorded 161 putouts alogngside a .995 fielding percentage. Martinez captured first team honors for the second time of the junior's career after earning a first team nod in 2023 and a spot on the second team a season ago. 

Lozano set the tone and led all batters in Big West action hitting at .422 and hits with 38 during 90 at bats. The utility earned Big West Freshman of the Week a league high four occasions in 2025. Lozano hit the long ball seven times this season, ranking second most on CSF.  

Hurtado spent the most time in the circle amongst all Big West freshman with 89.1 innings pitched, aiding the Titans to six conference wins while recording 65 strikeouts.  

During the skippers first season in the dugout, Gina Oaks Garcia takes home Big West Coach of the Year after aiding Cal State Fullerton to a league best 22-5 mark in conference and 37-15 record overall. The Titans went on a 14-game winning streak earlier this year and enter the Championship as winners of 15 straight Big West contests. CSF claimed back-to-back regular season titles and enter the Championship at the No. 1 seed, receiving a bye on day one of competition.  

Arce, Hurtado, and Lozano are accompanied on the first team list with teammates Colby McClinton, Alexia Lopez, and Trisha McCleskey. McClinton recorded the second best overall hitting percentage this season at .392 while Lopez landed the eighth-best at .353, respectively. In conference action, McCleskey clocked in a .277 opposing batting average and 2.27 ERA which ranked both second and third amongst all pitches this season.  

Bella Fuentes and Giselle Mejia join Johnson as first team honorees representing the Gauchos. Fuentes and Mejia find themselves tied for a UCSB high in hits with 45. Fuentes was one of five student-athletes to record 10 or more home runs this season. Mejia managed to amass the seventh best average and third highest amongst all freshman at .357.  

CSUN puts a pair on the first team with Lauryn Carranco and Tiara Westbrook. Carranco returns to the first team list as a junior after earning 2023 Big West Freshman Pitcher of the Year. The ace tossed the second most innings in The Big West at 170.2 and was tied for third most strikeouts at 104. Offensively, Westbrook led CSUN in average (.358), OPS (1.063), doubles (2) and home runs (10).  

UC San Diego also sees a duo claim first team honors with India Caldwell and Jaden Hill. Caldwell collected 10 complete games for the Tritons and sat the second most batters down in The Big West this season at 106. Hill had nine of the infielder's 33 hits go for extra bases (9 doubles) alongside holding the UCSD lead in average at .320.  

Maalia Cherry contributed a Cal State Bakersfield high in hits with 41 this season. The freshman finished behind the Field Player of the Year in slugging percentage at a .680 mark but led the entire league in home runs with 13 bombs. Cherry was awarded D1 National Freshman of the Week on Feb. 18 following a 12 hit and 15 RBI (.545 avg.) weekend.  

The Big West's leader in strikeouts (118), Maddie Heinlin, is the lone representative for UC Riverside to round out the first team accolades. The senior spent the most innings in the circle this season at 183.2, en route to boasting the second-best overall ERA at a 2.52 clip.  

Thirteen more conference standouts were named to the All-Big West second team, featuring the likes of UCSB's Tehya Banks, LBSU's Jacquelyn Bickar, CSUN's Mikayla Carman and Alexis Chavez, CSF's Sarah Coccillos, UCSD's Morgan Eng, CSUB's Kaia Johnson, CP's Kate Judy, Jamie McCaughey of UH, CSUB's Maya Molina-Villarreal, LBSU's Makayla Medellin, CSF's Sarah Perez, and UCD's Ashley Sawai.  

Alongside Cherry, Coccillos, Hurtado, Lozano and Mejia on the All-Freshman team are Maddy Bermudez of Cal Poly, Alyssa Dethlefson of UC Davis, Priscilla Iniguez of Long Beach State, Alexis Jiminez of UC San Diego and Brynne Nally of Long Beach State. 

The Titans led the way with 18 total representatives named All-Big West, the most since the team had 11 named the distinction back in 2019. 

Our conference is slated to make history tomorrow holding its inaugural Big West Softball Championship. The Big West's top six teams will compete for the conference title, with the champion earning an automatic berth in the NCAA Championship. The four-day double-elimination format sees the top two teams with a first round bye will be the first of its kind in The Big West.  

Three games highlight the first day of competition on Wednesday, May 7 with No. 4 and No. 5 seeds leading off at 1:00 p.m., followed by the No. 3 and No 6 seeds going head-to-head at 4 p.m., with the first elimination game of the championship rounding out Day 1. Action resumes on Thursday, May 8, when the top two teams take to the diamond for their first taste of championship action with an elimination matchup to close out Day 2 and bring the field to four. Friday, May 9 features a winner's bracket showdown, with the victor in that contest advancing to the championship. Two elimination games round out the action as one team will battle back to earn a spot in the championship.  

The championship game will take place at 1 p.m. on Saturday, May 10. If the undefeated team loses, a decisive second game will be played approximately 45 minutes after the conclusion of the first to crown the 2025 Big West softball champions. 

All-session tickets, priced at $77, provide access to all four days of the double-elimination event. Senior and youth all-session tickets are $65. Senior is defined as 65 and older and youth are 12 and under.   
  
Single-session general admission tickets are also available for $16 for adults, $14 for Senior/Youth and $12 for groups of 20 or more. For additional details or to purchase tickets, visit BigWest.org/SBtix. 

2025 Big West Softball Awards
Field Player of the Year: Ava Arce, Cal State Fullerton Pitcher of the Year: Malaya Johnson, UC Santa Barbara Defensive Player of the Year: Izabella Martinez, Hawai'i Freshman Field Player of the Year: Nataly Lozano, Cal State Fullerton Freshman Pitcher of the Year: Eva Hurtado, Cal State Fullerton Coach of the Year: Gina Oaks Garcia, Cal State Fullerton
2025 All-Big West First Team
Student-Athlete	Year	Position	Institution	Hometown
Ava Arce	Jr.	INF	Cal State Fullerton	Huntington Beach, Calif.
India Caldwell	Sr.	P	UC San Diego	Fallbrook, Calif.
Lauryn Carranco	Jr.	P	CSUN	Clovis, Calif.
Maalia Cherry	Fr.	INF	Cal State Bakersfield	Hayward, Calif.
Bella Fuentes	Jr.	INF	UC Santa Barbara	Chino Hills, Calif.
Maddie Hienlin	Sr.	P	UC Riverside	Pleasanton, Calif.
Jaden Hill	Gr.	INF	UC San Diego	Laguna Beach, Calif.
Malaya Johnson	Jr.	P	UC Santa Barbara	Roseville, Calif.
Colby McClinton	Jr.	INF	Cal State Fullerton	Kaneohe, Hawai'i
Alexia Lopez	Jr.	C	Cal State Fullerton	Eastvale, Calif.
Nataly Lozano	Fr.	UTL	Cal State Fullerton	Chlua Vista, Calif.
Izabella Martinez	Sr.	C/INF	Hawai'i	Garden Grove, Calif.
Trisha McCleskey	R-So.	P	Cal State Fullerton	Merced, Calif.
Giselle Mejia	Fr.	INF	UC Santa Barbara	La Puente, Calif.
Tiara Westbrook	So.	UTL	CSUN	Arcadia, Calif.
2025 All-Big West Second Team
Student-Athlete	Year	Position	Institution	Hometown
Tehya Banks	So.	INF	UC Santa Barbara	Chino Hills, Calif.
Jacquelyn Bickar	Sr.	INF	Long Beach State	Cypress, Calif.
Mikayla Carman	Sr.	OF	CSUN	Huntington Beach, Calif.
Alexis Chavez	Sr.	INF	CSUN	Riverside, Calif.
Sarah Coccillos	Fr.	INF	Cal State Fullerton	Oxnard, Calif.
Morgan Eng	Sr.	OF	UC San Diego	Glendale, Wash.
Kaia Johnson	R-Sr.	OF	Cal State Bakersfield	Indio, Calif.
Kate Judy	Sr.	P	Cal Poly	Seattle, Wash.
Jamie McGaughey	So.	INF	Hawai'i	Petaluma, Calif.
Maya Molina-Villarreal	Sr.	C	Cal State Bakersfield	San Fernando, Calif.
Makayla Medellin	Jr.	OF	Long Beach State	Yorba Lina, Calif.
Sarah Perez	So.	INF	Cal State Fullerton	Whittier, Calif.
Ashley Sawai	So.	P	UC Davis	Torrance, Calif.
Honorable Mention: Julia Barnett (Cal Poly, Sr., C/INF), Kate Barnett (Long Beach State, So. P), Kiara Blanchard (Cal Poly, Jr., OF), Chloe Borges (Hawai'i, Sr. P/OF), Macy Brandl (Hawai'I, So., P), Mickey Buscemi (UC Davis, Sr., OF), Rebeca Cabezas (UC Riverside, Jr., INF), Emily Carr (UC Santa Barbara, So., UTL), Kamryn Davis (UC Riverside, Sr., OF), Rebekah Durazo (Long Beach State, Sr., C), Kaylee Escutia (CSUN, Sr., OF), Kylie Galindo (CSUN, Sr., C), Leanna Garcia (Cal State Fullerton. R-So., P) Larissa Goshi (Hawai'I, Jr., OF), Caroline Grimes (UC Davis, Jr., P), Sophia Guevara (Cal State Fullerton, Sr., INF), Lily Hermosillo (UC San Diego, INF, Jr.), Eva Hurtado (Cal State Fullerton, Fr., P), Priscilla Iniguez (Long Beach State, Fr., INF), Raegan Jackson (CSUN, OF, Jr.), Alexis Jimenez (UC San Diego, Fr., INF), Grace Kilday (UC Davis, Sr., C), Alexa Landeros (CSUN, Sr., OF), Brooklyn Lee (Long Beach State, So., C), Jadyn Nielsen (CSUN, Jr., INF), Maggie Paulovich (Cal State Fullerton, R-So., UTL), Sydney Polli (UC Davis, Jr., INF), Jazzy Santos (UC Santa Barbara, Jr., INF), Brynne Nally (Long Beach State, Fr., P), Corissa Sweet (Long Beach State, Sr., OF), Zara Wasserman (UC San Diego, So., INF), Milan Ah Yat (Hawai'I, UTL, So.)
Student-Athlete Position Institution Hometown Maddy Bermudez INF     Cal Poly             Hollister, Calif. Sarah Coccillos INF Cal State Fullerton Oxnard, Calif.  Maalia Cherry INF Cal State Bakersfield Hayward, Calif. Alyssa Dethlefson P/OF UC Davis Bella Vista, Calif. Eva Hurtado P Cal State Fullerton     Ladera Ranch, Calif. Priscilla Iniguez INF Long Beach State Lawndale, Calif. Nataly Lozano UTL Cal State Fullerton Chula Vista, Calif.  Giselle Mejia OF UC Santa Barbara La Puente, Calif. Alexis Jimenez INF UC San Diego San Diego, Calif. Brynne Nally P Long Beach State Garden Grove, Calif.