May 17, 2010
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -
All-MWC Selections in PDF Format
San Diego State junior Samantha Beasley (San Diego/Steele Canyon HS) has been named the Mountain West Conference Pitcher of the Year, the league announced Monday. Beasley was joined on the all-MWC team by senior Brittany Knudsen (San Diego/Escondido HS) and sophomore Justeen Maeva (San Diego/Mira Mesa HS/Cal State Bakersfield).
A right-hander, Beasley became the seventh Aztec to win the award in the 11-year history of the league and the first since Christina Ross in 2008. In conference play, Beasley went 11-3 with a league-low 1.21 ERA in 92 2/3 innings. A 2009 all-league selection, she also topped the MWC in opposing batting average (.191), innings pitched, strikeouts (MWC single-season league record 128), batters struck out looking (26), wins, appearances (tied, 15), games started (14) and complete games (9).
Overall this season, Beasley is 28-9 with a 0.96 ERA over 226 1/3 innings. Beasley currently owns SDSU single-season records in strikeouts (345), strikeouts per seven innings (10.67), opposing batting average (.168), solo shutouts (since 1999) (11) and total shutouts (tied, 14).
Knudsen earned her third career all-conference honor by ranking among the top-10 in MWC games only in sacrifice bunts (tied-fourth, 3), slugging percentage (fifth, .689), hits (tied-fifth, 19), sacrifice flies (tied-fifth, 1), batting average (sixth, .422), total bases (seventh, 31), home runs (tied-eighth, 3), runs (tied-ninth, 11), RBIs (tied-ninth, 13), stolen bases (tied-ninth, 2), doubles (tied-10th, 3) and times hit by a pitch (tied-10th, 1). A centerfielder, Knudsen also had a perfect fielding percentage in 21 chances.
For the season, Knudsen is batting .396 with 34 runs and 27 RBIs. Her .396 average is tops in a season in school history, and she also ranks among the best in OPS percentage (fourth, .991), on-base percentage (fifth, .459) and slugging percentage (sixth, .532).
Maeva, who starred at Cal State Bakersfield last year, picked up her first MWC honor in her first try after batting .391 with 11 RBIs and a .500 slugging percentage in conference games. A designated player and first baseman, Maeva ranked fifth (tied) among the conference leaders in sacrifice flies (1), seventh (tied) in hits (18), eighth (tied) in batting average and 10th (tied) in times hit by a pitch (1). She was also perfect in four fielding chances.
Overall, Maeva is batting .372 with a team-high 36 RBIs and a .558 slugging percentage. Among the program single-season leaders, Maeva ranks first in slugging percentage, fourth in RBIs and sacrifice flies (tied, 3), sixth in OPS percentage (.983), seventh in batting average and eighth (tied) in home runs (4).
Brigham Young teammates Angeline Quiocho (MWC Player of the Year) and J.C. Clayton (MWC Freshman of the Year) captured the other two individual awards, while Cougar head coach Gordon Eakin was named the MWC Coach of the Year.
The Aztecs (33-14), who earned their sixth NCAA tournament bid in 10 seasons on Sunday, will play Fresno State (39-19) at 1 p.m. PT Friday in the first game of the four-team, double-elimination Los Angeles Regional. UCLA (40-11), the host and No. 5 overall seed, and Saint Mary's (30-21) will meet in the 3:30 p.m. PT nightcap.