Ten members of the Arizona softball team were named to the All-Pacific 10 Conference team on Wednesday, with Brittany Lastrapes and Brigette Del Ponte garnering first-team accolades.
Lastrapes’ selection is the fourth in her career, becoming the first Wildcat to be named first-team All-Pac-10 for four consecutive years since Caitlin Lowe accomplished the feat from 2003 to 2007.
The senior led the Wildcats with a .415 batting average and a .518 on-base percentage while also going six-for-six in stolen base attempts in 2011.
Del Ponte’s selection, the first of her career, comes after the sophomore hit .335 during the regular season and smacked 16 home runs while slugging at a team-high .749 clip. The product from Sunrise Mountain High School in Peoria, Ariz., was named second-team All-Pac-10 as a freshman.
Lauren Schutzler earned second-team accolades for the second consecutive year, while Stacie Chambers was named second-team after being a first-team all-conference selection the previous two years.
Joining Schutzler and Chambers on the second-team is sophomore pitcher Kenzie Fowler, who went 23-7 with a 1.75 ERA during the regular season, throwing 19 complete games.
Juniors Kristin Arriola and Lini Koria were named All-Pac-10 honorable mention, and Shelby Babcock was named to the all-freshman team after going 14-8 with a 4.01 ERA in the pitcher’s circle. Babcock’s classmates Alex Lavine and Ashlee Brawley were all-freshman honorable mention selections.
Cats begin postseason
Arizona (40-16) will take on Ivy League champion Harvard University (36-14) on Friday at 6:30 p.m. in the first game of the Tucson Regional, before playing either at-large selection Texas Tech (40-14) or Western Athletic Conference champion New Mexico State (43-15) on Saturday.
Arizona is opening postseason play at home for the 16th time during its streak of 25 straight NCAA Tournament appearances – five short of Fresno State’s NCAA record 30 consecutive appearances.
The No. 10 Wildcats, in search of their ninth national championship, have been to 21 consecutive Women’s College World Series. Head coach Mike Candrea sports a 138-40 in NCAA Tournament play at Arizona.
Arizona played only two games combined against its potential opponents in Tucson, sweeping a doubleheader against NMSU.
All games can be heard live on 1290 AM.