CSUN Top 10 – No. 9 CSUN Softball Posts 18-Win Improvement
From June 27 to August 1, GoMatadors.com will present its top-10 CSUN sports moments from the 2021-22 year. At No. 9, the CSUN softball team improving by 18 games in 2022.
The CSUN softball team improved by 18 games in 2022 from a 2021 season plagued by COVID-19. The Matadors went 24-30 this season after going 6-20 the year before. The 18-game turnaround was among the top 10 best in Division I in the category in 2022.
The Matadors went 14-13 in Big West play, marking the first time since 2017 11-10) that CSUN posted a winning record in league play. After losing nine in a row in Big West action and falling to 3-9, CSUN finished 11-4 over the final 15 conference games.
Led by Jaymi Steward, who was named to the first team, four Matadors earned All-Big West All-Conference honors. Selected by the league's 10 head coaches, Steward, a redshirt senior, was the first Matador named to the first team since 2019. In 27 Big West games, Steward hit .363 (the eighth highest) with four home runs and 17 RBI.
Steward posted a .585 slugging percentage and a .439 on-base percentage while scoring 19 runs. She was 8-8 in stolen bases and has not committed an error in 50 chances (47 PO-3a) in center field. Steward was named Big West Field Player of the Week on Mar. 21 after hitting .600 over the opening weekend.
Steward led the team in hitting (.306), home runs (6), RBI (27), runs (32), doubles (10), slugging percentage (.471), on-base percentage (.389), and stolen bases (18). Steward tied the school Division I school record for most stolen bases in a game when she stole three against Southern Utah on Feb. 19. She tied with five other players for the record. Taylor Nate recently stole three bases against Utah State on Feb. 15, 2015.
Her 18 stolen bases this season are tied for the 8th most in a season by a CSUN player at the Division I level with Jennifer Mosier (2010). In addition, steward proved to be durable as she started 113 consecutive games dating back to Apr. 27, 2019, at UC Santa Barbara.
Kenedee Jamerson and Mikayla Carman were both selected second-team All-Conference.
In conference-only games, Jamerson was third in ERA (1.99), eighth in innings pitched (88.1), ninth in opponent batting average (.246), tied for 10th (with three others) in wins (5), and 10th in strikeouts (47).
Overall, the 5-8 lefty went 7-16 with a team-best 2.58 ERA. Jamerson tossed 168.1 innings, the third-most of any Big West pitchers. Jamerson reached the CSUN top 10 in career appearances (122, sixth), games started (84, seventh), and career saves (tied for eighth with five with Daphne Pofek).
In 27 Big West games, Carman hit .358 and recorded 29 hits, both of which were the 10th highest in league play. Overall, Carman started 48 times in 50 appearances and was second on the team in hitting (.302) and hits (38). She scored 23 runs, the third-most on the squad. In addition, Carman drove in 17 runs, the fourth most on the team.
Kaylee Escutia earned honorable mention All-Conference honors. In 24 conference games, Escutia hit .324 with 11 RBI. Escutia moved to first base at the start of the UC Davis series from right field. She recorded 19 putouts in the 12-inning 4-3 loss to UC Riverside on Apr. 23, which ties her for the fourth-most in a game with Katie Hooper (vs. Hawai'i, Apr. 7, 2017) and Scia Maumuasol (at Cal State Fullerton, 2/13/94) by a Matador at the Division I level.
Escutia posted 135 putouts in 15 games at first base and moved to second on the team in the category (170). She was second on the Matadors in hitting (.288) and recorded one home run and 13 RBI.
Carman and Escutia were both named to the Big West All-Freshman team.
~#UniteTheValley~
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