Pac-12 names baseball and softball Scholar-Athletes of the Year
WALNUT CREEK, Calif. - WASHINGTON STATE’s Collin Slaybaugh was named the Pac-12 Baseball Scholar-Athlete of the Year, while ARIZONA’s Kelsey Rodriguez was voted the Pac-12 Softball Scholar-Athlete of the Year, the Conference office announced today.
Slaybaugh, a native of Puyallup, Wash., is a Kinesiology major with a 4.0 grade-point-average. The senior—who is working on a second degree—was a CoSIDA Academic All-America First Team selection in 2013 and earned second team honors this year. He is a three-time Pac-12 first team All-Academic honoree and has been on Washington State's President's Honor Roll his entire four-year career. Switching from catcher to outfielder in his final year of eligibility, Slaybaugh started 51 of 52 games and led the team in stolen bases (7). The four-year regular starter hit for a .299 average with 64 hits--both marks good for second-best on the team in 2014. As the Cougars' starting catcher in 2013, he earned Pac-12 Honorable Mention honors after leading the team in batting average, runs and stolen bases.
Rodriguez, a native of Scottsdale, Ariz., holds a 3.92 GPA while majoring in Psychology at Arizona. She had a standout senior campaign as a utility player for the Wildcats, leading the team and the Conference in doubles with 20, as well as posting a .419 batting average which was third in the Conference. Rodriguez started 56 of 58 games for the Cats, helping UA to its ninth Super Regional appearance in 10 years and its 28th-consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament. She is a first-team Pac-12 All-Academic honoree as well as a first-team All-Pac-12 and second-team NFCA All-Region recipient this year.
In order to be eligible for the Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year award, student-athletes must be a senior (in athletics eligibility) on track to receive a degree, have a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or higher, participate in at least 50% of the scheduled contests in the sport and have a minimum of one year in residence at the institution. Each Pac-12 institution may nominate one individual per sport, and the winners are selected by a committee of Pac-12 staff members at the conclusion of each sport’s regular season. The athletic accomplishments of the nominees are a consideration in the voting for the award.
A Scholar-Athlete of the Year will be named in each of the Pac-12’s 22 sponsored sports: baseball, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, men’s cross country, women’s cross country, football, men’s golf, women’s golf, women’s gymnastics, men’s rowing, women’s rowing, men’s soccer, women’s soccer, softball, men’s swimming & diving, women’s swimming & diving, men’s tennis, women’s tennis, men’s track & field, women’s track & field, women’s volleyball, and wrestling.
The Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year Awards were established during the 2007-08 academic year.