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2004 All-Mountain West Conference Softball Team Announced
BYU's Ianeta Le`i was named Player of the Year.
May 12, 2004
Complete Release in PDF Format
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The All-Mountain West Conference Softball awards as selected by the league's six head coaches were announced today in conjunction with the start of the Mountain West Conference Softball Championship in Fort Collins, Colo. The championship begins tomorrow (Thursday, May 13) and runs through Saturday, May 15, at Ram Field on the Colorado State University campus. BYU's Ianeta Le`i was named Player of the Year, while San Diego State sophomore Celena Velasquez captured her second consecutive Pitcher of the Year award and Colorado State's Jessica Strickland garnered Freshman of the Year acclaim for the regular season champion Rams. Colorado State's Mary Yori collected her second straight Coach of the Year honor. Le`i, an Oahu, Hawaii, native, is batting .355 on the season with seven home runs, 34 RBI, 32 runs scored, a slugging percentage of .630 and an on-base percentage of .452. In MWC play, she was second in slugging percentage (.754) and total bases (43), third in batting average (.386), fourth in home runs (five), and fifth in RBI (16) and on-base percentage (.453). Defensively, Le`i turned in a .970 fielding percentage from the first-base position. Velasquez, from Tucson, Ariz., is 15-5 on the year, with 98 strikeouts, and ranks in the top-five in six pitching categories, including ERA (1.32, tied for first), wins and saves (five, second). She was 6-1 in conference play, with five saves, and posted a 0.85 ERA and opposing batting average of .223. Nationally, Velasquez currently ranks 14th in saves. Velasquez was also an MWC Pitcher of the Week honoree four times in the 2004 season. Strickland, a Lakewood, Colo., product, proved to be a force at the plate, on the mound and in the field in her first season as a Ram. Offensively, she is batting .367, with seven home runs, 23 RBI, 21 runs scored, 11 doubles and a slugging percentage of .661. In conference play, she batted .368, with three homers, 10 RBI and a slugging percentage of .596. On the mound she compiled a record of 11-4, a 2.13 ERA, 55 strikeouts, a MWC-high seven saves (fourth in the nation) and seven complete games in 27 appearances. Against MWC competition, Strickland went 4-1 and ranked in the top-five in opposing batting average (.223, tied for first), ERA (1.29, second), appearances (14, second) batters struck out looking (10, tied for fifth), saves (six, first) and games finished (eight, third). Primarily as a first baseman, Strickland had 36 putouts, 42 assists and no errors for a 1.000 fielding percentage. The 20-member all-conference team includes five players from Colorado State, four players from BYU, San Diego State, and Utah, two players from UNLV and one from New Mexico.
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2004 All-Mountain West Conference Softball Team
Player of the Year - Ianeta Le`i, BYU
*2003 All-MWC Selection
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