TEMPE -- Ten NCAA softball student-athletes who excel both on and off the field were selected as finalists today for the 2014 Senior CLASS Award® in collegiate softball and Arizona State University pitcher Dallas Escobedo was one of them.
Escobedo had been the ace of the Sun Devil pitching staff for each of the last four seasons, leading the ASU squad to the Women’s College World Series in each of the last three seasons and guiding the team to an NCAA title as a freshman in 2011.
The senior ace is a two-time NFCA All-American and three-time All-Pac-12 First Team selection and currently ranks second in ASU history in both wins (105) and strikeouts (1,091) behind only ASU legend Katie Burkhart in each category.
The Pennsylvania Rebellion selected Escobedo as the top pick in the 2014 National Pro Fastpitch draft earlier this week. She is 14-5 this season with a 1.73 ERA and has posted a cumulative career ERA of under 2.00 in her time at ASU.
Her 1,091 strikeouts make her just the 14th player in Pac-12 history to eclipse the 1,000 strikeout mark and she is currently ranked in the top-60 all-time in NCAA history in the category.
What makes Escobedo truly standout, however, is all the things she does outside of the diamond.
She has posted a 3.25 cumulative GPA during her time at ASU as she pursues two degrees in both Special Education and Family and Human Development. Despite the rigors of being a competitive Division I student-athlete, Escobedo puts much of her time into pursuing her degrees and last semester spent one day a week at a middle school as a teaching assistant where she put together her own lesson plans and worked with students one-on-one.
Escobedo and Wigness is the most active members of the community in Sun Devil Athletics, having taken part in volunteer duties at numerous Race for the Cure events, the Salvation Army, the SDA annual Fantasy Flight and serving as guest speakers at Celebrating Women of Today and Tomorrow Conference.
Finalists were chosen by national media from the list of 30 candidates announced in February. Nationwide fan voting begins immediately to help select the winner. Fans are encouraged to vote on the Senior CLASS Award website through May 12. Fan votes will be combined with media and Division I head coaches’ votes to determine the winner with the fan voting counting for 1/3 of the total balloting. Fans may vote one time per day through the final day of voting.
The Senior CLASS Award winner will be announced during the 2014 NCAA Women’s College World Series® in Oklahoma City May 29 through June 4. For more information on all the finalists, visit seniorCLASSaward.com.
ABOUT THE AWARD
An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School, the Senior CLASS Award honors the attributes of senior student-athletes in four areas: community, classroom, character and competition. The award program is designed exclusively for college seniors who are utilizing their complete athletic eligibility, remaining committed to their university and pursuing the many rewards a senior season can bring. Premier Sports Management owns and manages the award.