California Collegiate Athletics Association

CCAA Selects 2020 Softball All-Star Team

Apr 28, 2020

With the global COVID-19 pandemic suspending and subsequently ending the 2019-20 college athletics season in mid-March, it became an impossibility to properly bestow all-conference honors for spring sports. As a result, the CCAA is pleased to announce the first, and hopefully last, CCAA All-Star Teams, in a fun effort to recognize and celebrate the accomplishments across the league during the abbreviated 2020 campaign.

First up today is the 2020 CCAA Softball All-Star Team. The CCAA Baseball All-Star Team and CCAA Men’s and Women’s Track & Field All-Star Teams will follow in the coming weeks.

The list of 20 student-athletes mirrors the dugout limit for CCAA softball, and is not bound by specific positions around the diamond. All 11 programs were guaranteed one representative to showcase talent across the league. These standout performers were submitted for consideration by the league’s softball sports information contacts, with additional nominees listed, by school, at the bottom.

The honorary captain of the 2020 CCAA Softball All-Star Team is Evelyn Andrews, who was a redshirt freshman in the Humboldt State program when she tragically passed away in February following a courageous battle with cancer - which she won - before succumbing to a clotting complication common to AML. Andrews became a source of strength, inspiration and courage to each team across the league, showing truly and in Evelyn’s own words, no one fights alone.

Chico State, which topped the league standings when play was halted at 19-2 overall and 14-2 in the CCAA, leads all teams with four selections, beginning with the Wildcats’ two-headed monster in the circle of junior Brooke Larsen (9-2, 0.99 ERA, 72 K) and senior Sam Mulock (10-0, 0.79 ERA, 47 K). Larsen, the CCAA Most Valuable Pitcher and CCAA Newcomer of the Year in 2019, earned NFCA National Pitcher of the Week distinction on March 4 following back-to-back no-hitters. 

Joining those two Wildcats are junior Reilani Peleti (.415, 3 HR, 15 RBI, .646 slugging percentage, .500 OBP) and senior Kristin Worley (.407, 24 R, .544 OBP, 14 SB), the program’s all-time leader in batting average (.378), runs scored (148) and stolen bases (110). Chico State took up the No. 2 spot in the NFCA’s final national poll on April 8.

A trio from third-place Cal State Dominguez Hills (16-8, 9-5 CCAA) made the cut, in Chenoa Au (.333, 14 R, 3 3B, 3 HR, 20 RBI, .573 SLG, 14 SB), fellow senior Jessica Lane (.368, 13 R, 7 RBI, 10 SB), and junior right-handed pitcher Alyssa Olague (9-3, 2.77 ERA, 4 SV, 62 K).

Sonoma State (17-8, 12-4 CCAA), which won its last 12 games in a row to slide into second in the league table behind Chico State, has senior pitcher Teresa Danenberg (6-2, 1.45 ERA, 29 K) and sophomore Jordyn Martinez (.318, 14 R, 5 HR, 22 RBI, .561 SLG) on the All-Star Team. Martinez is tied atop the conference leaderboard in home runs, with fellow All-Star selection Andrea Wood of Cal State San Marcos and Sonoma State teammate Nicole Renner.

UC San Diego (21-8, 12-8 CCAA) was ranked No. 24 by the NFCA at the conclusion of its 20th and final Division II and CCAA season, prior to the Tritons’ move this summer to Division I and the Big West Conference. They are represented by the junior tandem of Sherriah Harrington (.400, 13 R, 7 2B, 2 HR, 19 RBI, .631 SLG, .512 OBP) and southpaw Robyn Wampler (11-3, 1.13 ERA, 4 SV, 69 K), the 2018 CCAA Freshman of the Year. Harrington closed the season with a streak of 20-consecutive games reaching base for the Tritons.

San Francisco State put its dynamic duo on the team of sophomore Brylynn Vallejos (.424, 26 R, 6 2B, 2 HR, 13 RBI, .612 SLG, .529 OBP, 28 SB), the 2019 CCAA Freshman of the Year, and senior Michelle Castro (.390, 22 R, 10 2B, 2 HR, 18 RBI, .585 SLG, .490 OBP, 18 SB), the 2018 CCAA Newcomer of the Year. Vallejos led the conference in batting, hits (36), runs and steals while Castro tallied 88 career stolen bases to record a new program record for the Gators.

Senior Haley Finn (.375, 17 R, 7 2B, 13 RBI, .594 SLG, 18 BB, .518 OBP) and junior Kaylee Williamson (.415, 2 HR, 12 RBI, .569 SLG, .493 OBP) are the two student-athletes on the All-Star Team for fifth-place Cal State San Bernardino (12-11, 10-8 CCAA).

Cal State Monterey Bay’s representative was four-year, two-way standout and 2017 CCAA Freshman of the Year, Hayley Fein (.328, 12 R, 6 2B, 3 HR, 19 RBI, .586 SLG; 4-7, 4.44 ERA, 70 K). Other single selections were Stanislaus State junior pitcher Delaney Pamplin (5-5, 1.49 ERA, 25 K), Humboldt State junior Micaela Harris (.352, 24 R, 3 3B, 14 RBI, .521 SLG, .459 OBP, 18 SB), Cal State East Bay senior Sarah Fukushima (.364, 9 2B, 9 RBI, .530 SLG, .449 OBP), and Cal State San Marcos junior Andrea Wood (.327, 5 HR, 22 RBI, .673 SLG).

In addition to the 2020 CCAA Softball All-Star Team, the 2020 CCAA Softball Championship Scholar was also named by the league office on Tuesday, with Sonoma State senior Nicole Renner the recipient. Typically awarded at each championship final site, the Championship Scholar Award recognizes the individual in the field who has achieved the highest academic standard among their peers in each conference-sponsored sport. 

A product of Reno, Nev., Renner maintains a nearly perfect grade-point average as she pursues a degree in early childhood studies. She hit .308 this season over 18 games, 12 of them starts, and slugged an impressive .718 on the strength of a league-leading five home runs.

The Championship Scholar Award is presented to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade-point average participating at the final CCAA championship site in each conference-sponsored sport. For the spring of 2020, all participating student-athletes in each sport will receive consideration for the award.