IRVINE, Calif. – California Baptist’s Hannah Thieroff and Concordia’s Callie Nunes highlight the 2018 PacWest Softball All-Conference team as the Player and Pitcher of the Year as voted on by the PacWest coaches.
 
Nunes put together the most dominant pitching season in PacWest history during her freshman campaign as she led Concordia to its first PacWest title in program history. The native of Modesto, California, became the first pitcher in PacWest history to have an ERA under 1.00 as she led the nation with a 0.55 ERA to earn recognition as the PacWest Pitcher of the Year and Freshman of the Year.
 
Nunes finished the regular season as the national leader in strikeouts with 282 and also had a national-leading 2.83 hits allowed per seven innings. The freshman tallied 23 wins and eight saves, which was the second-most saves in the nation. Concordia won 24 of its last 25 games of the regular season and Nunes earned either a win or a save in all 14 games that she appeared in during that stretch.
 
Thieroff earned recognition as the PacWest Player of the Year after leading the conference in batting average, slugging percentage and on-base percentage with a slash line of .444/.530/.897 in her junior year. Thieroff crushed 16 home runs and drove in 52 runs to power the Lancers’ lineup. Thieroff had three multi-home run games this year and had a .491 batting average in the middle of March as she helped the Lancers finish second in the PacWest standings.
 
Academy of Art’s Sonja Garnett was selected by her peers as the PacWest Coach of the Year after leading her team to the NCAA West Regional. The Urban Knights finished in eighth place in the conference last year, but with a young roster in 2018, they went 39-16 during the regular season this year and went into the final week of the season with a shot at the conference title. In her fourth season at the helm, Garnett helped ART U earn wins over Central Washington, Cal State Monterey Bay and Concordia before going undefeated at the Tournament of Champions.
 
California Baptist’s Soraya Shabazian was selected as the PacWest Defensive Player of the Year. The outfielder was a key part of the Lancers’ defense and recorded one outfield assist on the year with only one error in 37 games. The junior also had 35 putouts and helped CBU earn the fourth-best fielding percentage as a team in the conference.
 
Areana Ramos from Biola is the PacWest Newcomer of the Year as she helped the Eagles finish conference play with a .500 record in their first year in the PacWest. Ramos had a .353 batting average with nine home runs and 35 RBIs to lead her team in all three categories. The junior had her best series of the year against Dominican, where she went 4 for 6 with eight RBIs in a doubleheader as she hit two home runs and a double.
 
California Baptist, Dixie State and Concordia all have three players on the first-team All-PacWest and Academy of Art is represented by Brooke Larsen, who ranked fourth in the conference in ERA and 11th in batting average during her impressive freshman campaign. Bailey Gaspar from Hawai`i Hilo earned her third all-conference recognition and Amanda Woods from Azusa Pacific was also a first-team selection as a freshman.
 

2018 ALL-PACWEST SOFTBALL AWARDS
Player of the Year	Hannah Thieroff	California Baptist
Pitcher of the Year	Callie Nunes	Concordia
Defensive Player of the Year	Soraya Shabazian	California Baptist
Newcomer of the Year	Areana Ramos	Biola
Freshman of the Year	Callie Nunes	Concordia
Coach of the Year	Sonja Garnett	Academy of Art