Five Titans Earn All-Big West Honors

Five Titans Earn All-Big West Honors

FULLERTON, Calif. -

2013 All-Big West Conference Softball Team

Cal State Fullerton freshman Jasmine Antunez was named to the All-Big West Conference First team and voted the Big West freshman pitcher of the year, highlighting a group of five Titans named to the all-league honor released by the conference on Tuesday afternoon.

Redshirt juniors Ariel Tsuchiyama and Gabby Aragon earned second team nods, which is the second time both have been awarded with all-conference honors during their Titan career. Redshirt sophomore Eliza Crawford and sophomore Carissa Turang were also voted to the second team, their first career all-time conference honors.

For the second straight season a Titan has been named to the Big West's First Team, last season Nicole Johnson and Ashley Carter earned first team honors. 

Antunez becomes the first Titan to win Big West Freshman of the Year and first pitcher to earn a Big West pitching accolade since Jodie Cox was named Big West Pitcher of the Year in 2003. The Garden Grove, Calif., native finished 18-14 overall with a 2.56 ERA in 47 appearances for the Titans as a rookie. She tossed four shutouts and went the distance nine times, finishing first in appearances, second in starts (38), second in innings pitched (196.2), third in wins, and fourth in strikeouts (174). Antunez also held opponents to a .215 batting average, which was third best in the Big West.

Tsuchiyama, a second-team member in 2011, led Fullerton in hits and finished second on the team in batting average (.323). The redshirt junior catcher missed all of 2012 due to an injury, but returned to be a key contributor for the Titans. She also added 18 runs scored, nine doubles, and 25 RBI's. She also threw out 17 base runners this year, which was the second most in the Big West.

Aragon, who missed 28 games due to an injury, returned to the lineup and finished the year with a .297 batting average, 13 runs scored, and recorded nine RBI's. She was also named to the Big West Second Team as a freshman in 2010. In the final 15 games of the season, she batted .441 with 15 hits, 11 runs scored, and seven RBI's to help Fullerton win 13 of their last 15 games.

Crawford started all 56 games, primarily at third base, batting .295 with a team high eight home runs, 29 RBI's, and 19 runs scored, which was the second most for the Titans. The Lakewood, Calif., native had a .519 slugging percentage and had ten multiple hit games and ten multiple RBI games. On February 26, she went 3-for-4 with three RBI's in an 11-5 upset win against No. 10 UCLA at Easton Stadium in Los Angeles.

Turang, in her first season with Fullerton after spending one season in Conference USA at Southern Miss, earned second-team honors after leading the Titans in batting average (.323), triples (5), and finished second on the team in steals with 12. The sophomore's five triples were tied for the best in the Big West with UC Riverside's Kayla White. In conference play Turang had the sixth best batting average (.386) and sacrifice bunts (6). 

Long Beach State's Shayna Kimbrough was named the 2013 Player of the Year and Darian Tautalafua was named Freshman Player of the Year. Hawai'i collected most of the accolades as Kaia Parnaby was named Pitcher of the Year, Kelly Majam was voted Defensive Player of the Year, and Head Coach Bob Coolen took Coach of the Year. 

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