COLORADO SPRINGS -- BYU senior Angeline Quiocho was named MWC Player of the Year, freshman J.C. Clayton garnered MWC Freshman of the Year and Cougar head coach Gordon Eakin captured MWC Coach of the Year honors for the second consecutive season as announced by the Mountain West Conference today.
The MWC champion Cougars also had a conference-leading six players named to the All-MWC team. Clayton made her first appearance on the list while junior pitcher Paige Affleck, junior second baseman Kristin Delahoussaye and junior catcher Jessica Fitu earned their second All-MWC honors.
Senior first baseman Andrea Ramirez was named to the team for the third time in her career and senior third baseman Angeline Quiocho earned her fourth citation.
Quiocho, a native of Walnut, Calif., helped the Cougars to their fifth outright regular-season title and the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. During league play, she batted .391, while tallying league-best totals in home runs (10), RBI (25), runs scored (24) and walks (13). Quiocho is the second straight Cougar (Jessica Fitu, 2009), and the seventh BYU player in the last eight seasons overall, to be awarded MWC Player of the Year.
Clayton, from Hollister, Calif., is the second Cougar in three seasons (Kristin Delahoussaye, 2008) to be awarded MWC Freshman of the Year accolades. In Conference play, she led all freshmen in batting average (.446), on-base percentage (.467), runs scored (19), hits (25), triples (two) and total bases (32). In overall league play rankings, Clayton led the MWC in triples, was second in runs scored and hits, fifth in batting average, sixth in total bases and nine in on-base percentage.
Eakin collected his second MWC coaching honor after guiding BYU to its fifth regular-season league crown and sixth consecutive NCAA Regional appearance. The eighth-year coach led the Cougars to a 12-3 Conference record (43-11 overall) this season, pushing his all-time record at BYU to 328-140 (.701). The 43 victories marks the fifth consecutive season which BYU has collected at least 40 wins.
BYU will travel to Austin, Texas, to compete in the NCAA Regionals, opening against East Carolina on Thursday, May 20, at 5 p.m. CST.
2010 MOUNTAIN WEST ALL-CONFERENCE SOFTBALL TEAM
Name Team Pos. Ht. Yr. Hometown (Previous School)
Paige Affleck% BYU P 5-11 Jr. New Harmony, Utah (Canyon View HS)
J.C. Clayton BYU SS 5-8 Fr. Hollister, Calif. (San Benito HS)
Kristin Delahoussaye'BYU 2B 5-4 Jr. Las Vegas, Nev. (Sierra Vista HS)
Jessica Fitu% BYU C 5-8 Jr. Walnut, Calif. (Nogales HS)
Angeline Quiocho%'#BYU 3B 5-9 Sr. Walnut, Calif. (Walnut HS)
Andrea Ramirez%$ BYU 1B 5-9 Sr. Simi Valley, Calif. (Royal HS)
Kelli Eubanks% CSU P 5-11 So. Troutdale, Ore. (Reynolds HS)
Ashley Munoz'# CSU C 5-7 Sr. Diamond Bar, Calif. (Diamond Ranch HS)
Rebecca Penland' CSU DP 5-7 Sr. Riverside, Calif. (Riverside Poly HS)
Caitlan Stem% CSU SS 5-6 Jr. Broomfield, Colo. (Broomfield HS)
Christine Thomsen CSU 1B 5-6 So. Fresno, Calif. (Bullard HS)
Cristin Anderson UNM 2B 5-3 Sr. Vacaville, Calif. (Sacramento CC)
Samantha Beasley% SDSU P 5-6 Jr. San Diego, Calif. (Steele Canyon HS)
Brittany Knudsen%# SDSU OF 5-5 Sr. San Diego, Calif. (Escondido HS)
Justeen Maeva SDSU DH 5-8 So. San Diego, Calif. (CS-Bakersfield)
Tara Bendt UNLV OF 5-3 Sr. Kearns, Utah (Salt Lake CC)
Laura Briones UNLV C 5-8 Sr. San Bernardino, Calif. (Cajon HS)
Ashli Holland%' UNLV 2B 5-4 Jr. Arvada, Colo. (Pomona HS)
Marissa Nichols%! UNLV OF 5-8 Sr. Diamond Bar, Calif. (Diamond Bar HS)
Joni Cook Utah DP/P 5-8 So. Eagle, Idaho (Eagle HS)
Player of the Year – Angeline Quiocho, BYU
Pitcher of the Year – Samantha Beasley, San Diego State
Freshman of the Year – J.C. Clayton, BYU
Coach of the Year – Gordon Eakin, BYU
% 2009 All-MWC Selection
' 2008 All-MWC Selection
# 2007 All-MWC Selection
$ 2006 All-MWC Selection
! 2005 All-MWC Selection