By Ed Cassiere, Xavier University Associate Athletics Director for Strategic Communications (Written for the LSWA) and Staff Reports
BPCC sophomore Uchenna Jong Loy has been named to the first team on the Louisiana Sports Writers Association All-Louisiana Collegiate Softball Team.
Jong Loy, an infielder, was named as a utility player. Jong Loy, from Amsterdam, The Netherlands, batted .521 with 27 home runs and 84 RBI. She was named the NJCAA Region XIV Player of the Year.
Three Lady Cavs made the second team — freshman pitcher Primrose Aholelei, freshman catcher Samantha Eckert and freshman first baseman Haylee Ladner.
Aholelei, of Honolulu, Hawaii, was 17-3 with a 2.55 ERA. She was the Region XIV Pitcher of the Year.
Eckert, a former West Ouachita standout, batted .390 with nine home runs and 37 RBI.
Ladner, from Buna, Texas, batted .383 with nine home runs and 59 RBI.
BPCC’s honorable mention selections were freshman second baseman Dyllan Sanay, freshman shortstop Tuliliau Sosi and freshman outfielder Kennedy Cox.
The Lady Cavs finished 48-8 overall and won the Region XIV title with a 25-1 mark.
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Louisiana-Lafayette’s Summer Ellyson repeated as Pitcher of the Year. She also won in 2019.
Her teammate, University of Georgia transfer Ciara Bryan, was named Hitter of the Year and Newcomer of the Year.
LSU captured the other two major awards. Shortstop Taylor Pleasants is Freshman of the Year, and Beth Torina is Coach of the Year. It’s the first time since 2015 that LSU won multiple major awards.
A Louisiana Sports Writers Association panel of sports media and college softball publicists selected the All-Louisiana team, based on statistics and performances through the teams’ conference tournaments. Those statistics were used in this story. There was no All-Louisiana team in 2020 because the COVID-19 pandemic shortened that season.
Ellyson — from Lafayette, La., and a three-time All-Louisiana first-team selection — was 23-6 with a 2.22 ERA, nine shutouts and 173 strikeouts in 167 innings. Including NCAA Tournament games, Ellyson was 25-7 and finished No. 3 on the Ragin’ Cajuns’ career victories list with 99. Ellyson is the fifth person and the third from UL Lafayette to win Pitcher of the Year multiple times.
Bryan, from Covington, Ga., hit .426 with five home runs, 37 RBI and 35 stolen bases in 38 attempts. She slugged .601 and had an on-base percentage of .469. She reached base safely in each of her first 39 games. Bryan is the second to win two All-Louisiana major awards in the same season; Lexie Elkins (hitter, newcomer) of UL Lafayette did it in 2014.
Pleasants, from Houston, hit .314 with 11 home runs and 47 RBI. She slugged .591 and helped LSU reach an NCAA Tournament super regional for the sixth consecutive time. Pleasants is LSU’s sixth Freshman of the Year and its first since 2014.
Torina reached 400 career LSU victories during the season, her 10th with the Tigers. LSU racked up nine regular-season wins against ranked opponents, two apiece against UL Lafayette, Texas, Tennessee and Missouri. LSU was 32-19 entering NCAA regionals and finished 35-22 after a pair of one-run losses to Florida State — the eventual national runner-up to Oklahoma — in the Baton Rouge Super Regional.
