COLORADO SPRINGS -- The 2009 Mountain West All-Conference softball awards, as selected by the league's six head coaches, were announced today. BYU sophomore Jessica Purcell was named MWC Player of the Year, while fellow Cougar Christie Zinanti captured the MWC Pitcher of the Year award. BYU's Gordon Eakin captured MWC Coach of the Year honors for the first time.
Purcell, who hails from Walnut, Calif., led the league in five offensive categories to help the Cougars to a 12-2 conference record (39-16 overall) to capture their fourth outright regular-season title and the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
“This is a well-deserved honor,” BYU head coach Gordon Eakin said. “She has been an impact player all year and she single-handedly changed the complexion of our games. We look forward to seeing big things from her in the future.”
During conference play, she hit at a .447 clip, tallied a league-leading seven home runs, scored 14 runs and collected 24 runs batted in (RBI). She ranks third in the nation for RBI (1.41), 18th for slugging percentage (0.819), 25th in doubles per game (0.31) and 26th in home runs (15). Purcell is two RBI away from breaking BYU's single-season record, and is also five doubles away from the topping the school's single-season chart. She is the sixth Cougar to be named MWC Player of the Year.
Zinanti, a native of Pueblo, Colo., becomes the first BYU hurler and first junior to earn the MWC Pitcher of the Year award. This season, she went 6-0 in conference play, including three complete games, with an ERA of 1.28.
“Christie dominated in the circle all season,” Eakin said. “She has come into her own and still hasn’t reached her full potential. This is a much-deserved honor and we look for bigger things in her senior year.”
The righthander led the MWC in opposing batting average (.201), batters struck out looking (65) and wins (20). She also ranks first in the school's record books for all-time wins (51), strikeouts (427) and innings pitched (470.1).
Eakin collected his first MWC coaching honor after guiding BYU to its fourth regular-season league crown and fifth consecutive NCAA Regional appearance. The seventh-year coach is 284-127 (.691) at the helm of the Cougars to become the winningest coach in school history.
“It is a great honor but it really belongs to the team,” Eakin said. “There are many people on our coaching staff that have worked hard to help our players get ready to play, so I view this as an honor for the entire team.”
Earlier this season, the Amateur Softball Association of America and USA Softball named Eakin one of 14 coaches in the 2009 Women's National Team coaching pool.
The 20-member all-conference team includes five student-athletes each from regular-season champion BYU and San Diego State, four from UNLV, and two apiece from Colorado State, New Mexico and Utah.
“All five players named to the conference team deserved this great honor,” Eakin said. “There were several others who could have easily received this honor. It is a team accomplishment.”
Christie Zinanti earned her second All-MWC award, while this season mark’s Purcell first.
Junior Angeline Quiocho was selected to the All-MWC team, for the third time. This marks the first time she has been named to the conference team as an outfielder.
Junior Andrea Ramirez received her second All-MWC award, after being named to the team in 2005.
Righthander Paige Affleck was selected to the conference team for the first time. The sophomore worked in tandem with Zinanti to guide the Cougars to the conference title.