There are few collegiate athletes with resumes as long as Rachel Garcia’s, and UCLA’s star pitcher added yet another trophy to her collection Monday night.
At the Collegiate Women Sports Awards Show in Los Angeles, Garcia won the Honda Cup, which the CWSA presents annually to the top female collegiate athlete.
The accolade is one of many she picked up while leading the Bruins to their first Women’s College World Series title since 2010.
The redshirt junior was also named the USA Softball collegiate player of the year for the second time, National Fastpitch Coaches Association pitcher of the year, ESPNW national player of the year and Most Outstanding Player at the WCWS. This is the second year Garcia has been nominated for the Honda Cup after being selected as the Honda Sport Award winner among softball players last season.
"I'm super excited and super humbled and grateful to be a part of this for the second year in a row," she told USA TODAY Sports. "I also have to thank my coaches, my teammates and my friends and family (for) the unconditional love and support that they give me because without them, I wouldn't be where I am right now."
UCLA's Rachel Garcia pitches against Oklahoma in the fifth inning of Game 2 of the best-of-three championship series in the NCAA softball Women's College World Series in Oklahoma City, Tuesday, June 4, 2019. UCLA won 5-4, taking the series. (Photo: Alonzo Adams, AP)
With impressive stats on the mound and at the plate, Garcia became the first player to earn Pac-12 player and pitcher of the year honors in the same season. In 208 innings, she totaled 315 strikeouts and posted a 1.31 ERA. Batters hit just .143 against her.
It was the opposite when Garcia was in batter’s box as she hit for a .339 average and ranked third and fourth, respectively, on the team with 54 RBI and 11 home runs.
Her biggest moment came in a game against Washington at the Women's College World Series when she threw 179 pitches and struck out 16 batters before hitting a walk-off home run in the 10th inning to send UCLA to the championship series against Oklahoma.
When she isn’t suiting up for the Bruins, Garcia plays for the USA Softball women’s national team. In the semifinals of the 2018 women’s world softball championship, she drove in the winning run that sent the Americans to the championship game. The U.S. went on to win the title and secure a berth to the 2020 Olympics.
As the 2019 Honda Cup winner, Garcia becomes the fifth Bruin to claim the title. Basketball player Ann Meyers, track and field star Jackie Joyner, softball pitcher Lisa Fernandez and shortstop Natasha Watley also received the award for their collegiate accomplishments.
The CWSA presented three more awards to student-athletes across multiple NCAA divisions. Jenna Fessler, a volleyball player at Thomas More University, received the Honda Inspiration Award. Taylor Reiss, a volleyball player from Southwest Minnesota State University was selected as the DII Honda Athlete of the Year, and Madison Temple, a basketball player at More University, was named the DIII Honda Athlete of the Year
Eleven other nominees were recognized as Honda Sport Award winners in their respective disciplines, including: Oklahoma’s Maggie Nichols for gymnastics, Stanford’s Kathryn Plummer for volleyball, Maryland’s Megan Taylor for lacrosse, Indiana’s Lilly King for swimming, Colorado’s Dani Jones for cross country, Florida’s Yanis Davis for track and field, Arkansas’s Maria Fassi for golf, Iowa’s Megan Gustafson for basketball, North Carolina’s Ashley Hoffman for field hockey, Florida State’s Natalia Kuikka for soccer and Miami’s Estela Perez-Somarriba for tennis.
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