Luna a candidate for Softball Senior CLASS Award
Feb. 20, 2013
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. - Texas senior All-American Blaire Luna is one of 30 NCAA softball student-athlete candidates for the Senior CLASS Award the organization announced Wednesday. To be eligible, a student-athlete must be classified as a NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence - community, classroom, character and competition. An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School®, the Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities. Luna is one of four student-athletes selected from the Big 12 Conference. A physical culture and sports major, Luna has been named to the Big 12 Conference Commissioner's Honor Roll for six consecutive semesters (Spring 2010 - Fall 2012), the most of any current Texas Softball student-athlete. Last spring, she earned a place on the Academic All-Big 12 First Team after picking up second-team honors in 2011. The Austin native has been actively involved in community service projects since arriving on campus in the fall of 2009. In all, Luna has taken part in 22 community service projects during her four years on the Forty Acres. On the field, Luna is a three-time All-America selection as she earned second-team honors from the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) in 2010 and 2011 and Easton (Second Team) in 2012. In 2010 and 2011, she was a USA Softball National Player of the Year Top 10 Finalist. Within the Big 12 Conference, Luna was an All-Big 12 First Team member in 2010 and 2011 and a second-team selection in 2012. Following her freshman campaign, she was tabbed as the Big 12 Pitcher of the Year and Freshman of the Year. Nationally, Luna has been named the NFCA Player of the Week twice (April 6, 2010, and March 22, 2011) and the USA Softball Player of the Week on March 22, 2011. She started her senior campaign throwing the fifth no hitter of her career, against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, and currently stands second to Olympian Cat Osterman (2002-06) on nearly every Texas pitching record list, including complete games, shutouts, strikeouts and strikeouts per seven innings. In 2012, she became just the second player in Texas Softball history to record 1,000 or more career strikeouts.
The candidate class will be narrowed to 10 finalists midway through the regular season, and those names will be placed on the official ballot. Ballots will be distributed through a nationwide voting system to media, coaches and fans, who will select the winner, who will be announced during the 2013 NCAA Women's College World Series® in Oklahoma City May 30 through June 5. 2013 Senior CLASS Award Candidates |
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