Although the UCLA softball team fell one win short of the College World Series this past weekend, one player wouldn’t be denied a trip to Oklahoma City.
Junior pitcher Ally Carda was there on Tuesday night for the presentation of the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year award. Although Carda did not win the award, being one of only three finalists for the nation’s top individual award was certainly an accomplishment.
“I was definitely honored to be in the top three,” she said. “I’m just really humbled and thankful.”
In 2014, Carda put together one of the best overall individual seasons in recent UCLA softball history. Not only did she finish sixth in the country with 32 pitching victories, she also tied for the UCLA team lead in RBI and finished second on the team in batting average.
Coach Kelly Inouye-Perez said she hadn’t seen a player who can both pitch and hit like Carda since Amanda Freed, who graduated from UCLA in 2002 and won a gold medal for USA softball in the 2004 Olympic Games.
“She’s just a great teammate, a great leader,” Inouye-Perez said of Carda.
Feeding off of Carda’s leadership, the UCLA softball team won 12 more games this year than it did last year, and it advanced past the NCAA regional round for the first time since 2010.
“She is no doubt the reason why we’ve had such a successful year,” said junior catcher Stephany LaRosa, who called the pitches during nearly all of Carda’s starts this year.
“As much as she gives me credit for helping her while she was on the mound … she was the reason why I was able to get back there (and) why I was able to have so much confidence,” LaRosa said.
Carda has one season left at UCLA next year, when she will likely be a preseason candidate and one of the frontrunners for Player of the Year. Even though the Bruins’ season just ended last weekend, she is already preparing for next season.
“I’ll get back into it soon here and get everything going,” Carda said. “I just want to be a good senior role model for the team next year.”
If Carda continues to improve as she has over her first three years, maybe the entire UCLA team will be in Oklahoma City at this time next year, instead of just Carda herself.