Garcia Named Pac-12 Player of the Year, Inouye-Perez Pac-12 Coach of the Year

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SAN FRANCISCO - For the third time in her career, senior Rachel Garcia was named Pac-12 Conference Player of the Year, as announced on Sunday. Head coach Kelly Inouye-Perez was honored as the Pac-12 Coach of the Year for the second time (2009), while eight of her players were honored on the All-Conference Teams.

Garcia was named to the All-Pac-12 First Team, as were juniors Aaliyah Jordan and Briana Perez, sophomore Megan Faraimo and freshman Maya Brady. Junior Delanie Wisz earned Pac-12 All-Second Team accolades, while junior Kinsley Washington picked up Third Team honors. Brady and Alyssa Garcia were named to the Pac-12 All-Freshman Team and Perez and Washington earned Pac-12 All-Defensive Team plaudits.

Garcia joins UCLA's Lisa Longaker (1987-1988, 1990), Lisa Fernandez (1991-1993) and Stacey Nuveman (1999, 2001-2002) and Arizona State's Kaitlin Cochran (2007-2009) as one of five players to be named Pac-12 Player of the Year three times. Garcia is also the seventh Bruin to earn four all-conference First Team honors along with Fernandez, Longaker, Nuveman, Stephany LaRosa, Janice Parks and Natasha Watley.

Jordan and Perez will each have the chance to join that list next season after both picked up their third All-Pac-12 First Team honors. The five First Team honors were the most of any Pac-12 team. Faraimo earned her second All-Pac-12 First Team award, while Brady posted her first. Washington and Wisz were honored on an All-Pac-12 Team for the first time, Perez was named All-Pac-12 Defensive for the third time and Washington earned her first All-Defensive honor.

Rachel Garcia leads the nation with a 0.60 earned run average to go with a 14-0 record, two saves and 124 strikeouts in 94 innings. She has appeared in 22 games, making 12 starts, posting nine complete games and five solo shutouts. At the plate, Garcia has a team-best .766 slugging percentage, is second with 25 walks and a .496 on base percentage, tied for second with 11 home runs, third with a .362 batting average and fourth with 30 runs batted in, adding 20 runs scored and five doubles. A three-time Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week, two-time Pac-12 Player of the Week and Top 10 finalist for the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year award, Garcia has allowed zero or one earned run in all 22 of her appearances, reaching double-figure strikeouts four times. She pitched the second no-hitter of her career on April 16 at Oregon State. At the plate, she has hits in 29 of her 36 games.

Jordan is the team leader in walks with 32 and on base percentage at .497, second with 30 runs scored and third with nine doubles, adding a .345 batting average, seven home runs and 29 runs batted in. She hit home runs in each of the last six conference weekends. Jordan is tied for second on the team with 10 multiple-hit games, adding seven multi-RBI contests. She ranks second among Pac-12 players in walks and fifth in on base percentage.

Perez leads the Bruins in runs scored (47), triples (5), total bases (103), multiple-hit games (14) and multi-RBI contests (11), ranking second with a .366 average, 36 runs batted in and a .725 slugging, tied for second with 11 home runs and third with 12 stolen bases. She is tied for second among Pac-12 players in triples, fourth in total bases, tied for fourth in runs and fifth in slugging, while also ranking tied for 15th nationally in triples and tied for 38th in runs scored. Perez has hits in 37 of 45 games, posting hitting streaks of seven, eight, five and 12 this season. She has scored a run in 33 of 45 games, including multiples 13 times.

Faraimo is the national leader in strikeout-to-walk ratio (15.60), also ranking in the Top 20 in walks allowed per seven innings, hits allowed per seven innings and earned run average (1.19). She is 17-3 with 156 strikeouts in 117 2/3 innings, having gone the distance in 11 of her 16 starts. Faraimo is first among Pac-12 pitchers in opposing batting average (.146), second in ERA, fourth in strikeouts and fifth in wins. The sophomore has six double-figure strikeout games and has allowed zero or one earned run in 18 of her 24 appearances. Faraimo pitched the 19th perfect game in UCLA history and her third-career no-hitter on Feb. 24 against San Diego State.

Brady is tied for second with 11 home runs, third with 32 runs batted in and 27 runs scored, tied for third with 17 walks, adding a .352 batting average, six stolen bases and eight multiple-RBI contests. She is ninth among Pac-12 players in on base percentage (.462) and hit by pitches (5). Brady opened Pac-12 play with a bang, earning conference Player and Freshman of the Week honors on March 23 following the Bruins' four-game sweep of Arizona State. She has hits in 29 of her 40 games, including an 11-game hitting streak from March 3-April 9.

Wisz leads the Bruins with 12 home runs, 11 doubles and 40 runs batted in, is second with 10 multiple-RBI games and tied for second with 10 multi-hit contests, adding a .323 batting average, a .677 slugging, 17 walks and 21 runs scored. Wisz has hits in 31 of 45 games. She has played at three different positions this season, first base, third base and her first-career contests at catcher, where she has thrown out three of seven would-be base stealers. Wisz has a .979 fielding percentage with only five errors in 234 chances.

Washington leads the Bruins with 15 stolen bases and is second with 10 doubles, adding a .313 batting average, 26 runs scored and 14 walks. She has eight multiple-hit games and five multi-RBI contests. Splitting time between first and second base this season, Washington has just two errors in 172 chances for a .988 fielding percentage.

Alyssa Garcia is batting .292 with three home runs, 12 runs batted in, three doubles and 10 walks. She has been a standout behind the plate defensively in her first full season as a Bruin, committing just one error in 223 chances for a .996 fielding percentage. Garcia has also thrown out six of 15 would-be base stealers this season.

The one-hour NCAA Selection Show will air on Sunday at 6 p.m. PT on ESPN2, as the 64 teams, 16 seeds and 16 sites will be announced.

UCLA All-Pac-12 Conference Awards
Pac-12 Player of the Year
Rachel Garcia

Pac-12 Coach of the Year
Kelly Inouye-Perez

All-Pac-12 First Team
Maya Brady
Megan Faraimo
Rachel Garcia
Aaliyah Jordan
Briana Perez

All-Pac-12 Second Team
Delanie Wisz

All-Pac-12 Third Team
Kinsley Washington

Pac-12 All-Freshman Team
Maya Brady
Alyssa Garcia

Pac-12 All-Defensive Team
Briana Perez
Kinsley Washington