Three Named First Team All-Region
5/17/2012 8:00:00 AM | Softball
May 17, 2012
SEATTLE - Three members of the Maryland softball team earned First Team All-Mid Atlantic Region honors, released Thursday. Sophomore Candice Beards and seniors Vangie Galindo and Kendra Knight received the honor, as announced by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association.
Galindo earned First Team All-Region honors for the second straight year, while this is the first honor for Knight and Beards. Galindo and Knight were both named to the All-ACC Teams last week.
Galindo led the ACC in hits with her 64 on the year. Her .364 batting average on the year was third-best in the league. Against No. 19 Florida State, Galindo became Maryland's all-time hits leader with 220 in her career. She owns Maryland records in career stolen bases, most hits in a season and best batting average in a season. Her .342 career batting average is currently No. 1 in school history.
Knight became the Terrapins' workhorse this season, pitching 255.0 innings of their 351.0 played. The Terps won 14 of their last 16 games to end the regular season and in that stretch, Knight pitched 102.2 innings and batters hit just .139 against her. Last week in the ACC Tournament, Knight became the first Maryland pitcher to notch 300 strikeouts in a season. Her 782 career strikeouts are No. 2 in the Maryland record books.
Beards spent much of the year in the designated player position, then took over first base in the ACC season. She hit .336 on the year, which is among the ACC's best and was one of the league's leaders in walks with 38. She leads the Terrapins in RBI with 34.
The Terps (34-20) are in Seattle this week for its fourth overall NCAA Regionals appearance. 16th-seeded Washington will play host to Texas Tech, Harvard and the Terrapins in the NCAA Regionals over the weekend.
The Terrapins will take on No. 23 Texas Tech (40-15) at 6:30 p.m. ET Friday. The game will be broadcast live online for free, with no audio, at http://ulive.cbssports.com/index-ncaa.html?media=319200. Harvard (33-13), the Ivy League champion, will take on No. 18 Washington (36-17) at 9:30 p.m. ET. All games will be at the Husky Softball Stadium.
Saturday's games will be 1 p.m., 3:30 p.m. and 6 p.m. PT. The Terps' game time and opponent Saturday will be determined after Friday's games. For more on the NCAA Tournament bracket, log on to http://www.ncaa.com/brackets/softball/d1 and for more on the Seattle Regional, log on to http://www.gohuskies.com/sports/w-softbl/mtt/12regional.html.
This marks Maryland's third straight NCAA Regionals appearance (2010, 2011, 2012) for the first time in school history, and all are under seventh-year head coach Laura Watten. Prior to 2010, the Terrapins' only Regionals appearance was in 1999.
To end the regular season, the Terps won 14 of 16 games and took two of three from No. 19 Florida State to clinch their Regionals bid.
