In the midst of a record-breaking season, UCLA softball slugger Jordan Woolery was named the Big Ten Conference’s Player of the Year on Friday.
The senior infielder, who entered the day with a .509 batting average, 33 home runs and a nation-leading 106 RBIs, is on track to become the first player in NCAA history to hit better than .500 while also recording at least 30 homers and 100 RBIs in a season.
Woolery became the Bruins’ first conference Player of the Year honoree since Maya Brady won the award in 2024 when UCLA played in the Pac-12 Conference.
Woolery joins Stacey Nuveman and Rachel Garcia as the only UCLA players to be named both a conference Freshman of the Year and Player of the Year.
The other major award winners were Nebraska’s Jordy Frahm as the Pitcher of the Year; Nebraska’s Alexis Jensen as the Freshman of the Year and Nebraska’s Rhonda Revelle as the Coach of the Year.
The Bruins led the conference with five All-Big Ten First Team selections. Freshman Bri Alejandre, redshirt freshman Aleena Garcia, senior Megan Grant and sophomore Rylee Slimp joined Woolery on the first team, with Grant, Slimp and Woolery being unanimous selections.
The other players on the first team were Michigan’s Lauren Putz; Nebraska’s Frahm; Northwestern’s Marina Mason and Emma Raye; Oregon’s Amari Harper, Lyndsey Grein and Stefini Ma’ake; Penn State’s Allison Oneacre; Purdue’s Anna Moore, Hailey Painter and Moriah Polar; Rutgers’ Samantha Rohwer; and Washington’s Giselle Alvares and Alexis DeBoer.
UCLA placed three players on the All-Big Ten Second Team: sophomore Kaniya Bragg, redshirt junior Alexis Ramirez and senior Taylor Tinsley.
The Bruins also led the conference with three All-Freshman Team selections in Alejandre, Garcia and Jolyna Lamar.
Garcia and Ramirez were also named to the conference’s All-Defensive Team.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
