TEMPE -- Filled with Olympians and Honda Award winners, the Pac-12 All-Century Softball team was announced this week by the conference and the final tally featured two Sun Devils helping break up a clean sweep from UCLA and Arizona.
Kaitlin Cochran and Katie Burkhart, both members of ASU’s 2008 NCAA Championship team, were honored on the team – the only Pac-12 program outside of UCLA (14) and Arizona (11) to have multiple members named to the team.
This team was voted on by a panel of 35, consisting of coaches, players, administrators and member of the media. Members were voted to the team based on their collegiate careers. The All-Century Team consists of 30 players in total, with 17 field and 13 pitchers.
Burkhart was named the Most Outstanding Player at tthe 2008 WCWS, leading ASU to its first NCAA National Title. She was a two-time All-American in 2007 and 2008 and a two-time Pac-12 First Team selection and Pac-12 Pitcher of the Year those seasons as well. Burkhart became the first player placed on the Sun Devil Softball Wall of Honor just this past weekend against Oregon.
In her career, Burkhart set and still owns the ASU records for wins, strikeouts, shutouts, strikeout ratio and innings pitched. She threw three perfect games for the Sun Devils – the only ASU player to achieve the feat multiple times and holds the ASU record with six no-hitters.
Her 118 career wins are ninth in Pac-12 history and her 1,670 career strikeouts are third in Pac-12 history and seventh in NCAA history. She is ranked 10th in NCAA history in strikeout ratio (10.7) and 5th in perfect games (3). She won the conference triple crown as a senior, leading the Pac-10 in strikeouts, wins and ERA.
One of the greatest hitters in the history of college softball, Cochran is the only four-time All-American in ASU softball history. The 2007, 2008 and 2009 Pac-12 Player of the Year, Cochran holds the school record holder for career batting average (.445), home runs (69) and hits (315) and is second in RBI (236) and doubles (54).
Cochran is fifth in Pac-12 history in career batting average (.445 - also good for 10th in NCAA history for a four-year career) and eighth in career home runs. She remains third in the Pac-12 with 274 career runs scored (fourth in NCAA history) and also in walks (235 – also fourth in NCAA history). She was the NCAA leader in on-base percentage and home runs as a senior.
Both players would go on to be back-to-back No. 1 picks in the National Pro Fastpitch draft, the first time players from the same university were selected first in two consecutive drafts.
Arizona’s head coach Mike Candrea was named the Softball Coach of the Century, with the Bruins’ Lisa Fernandez earning Player of the Century honors.