Clements, Condon, Barnett Lead Seven All-Big West Honorees
5/15/2024 12:26:00 PM | Softball
SAN LUIS OBISPO – With junior center fielder Jessica Clements earning the Cal Poly softball program's first Big West Player of the Year honor in 14 seasons and Jenny Condon recognized with her fourth career Big West Coach of the Year award, seven Mustangs earned all-conference praise for the 2024 season Wednesday afternoon.Joining Clements and Condon as Cal Poly's award winners was junior catcher Julia Barnett, named Big West Co-Defensive Player of the Year. Alongside Clements on the All-Big West first team was sophomore righthander Sophia Ramuno. Junior shortstop Xiara Diaz played her way on to the All-Big West second team while senior right fielder Juju Sargent and sophomore left fielder Kiara Blanchard earned honorable mention recognition.
With Cal Poly selected seventh in February's Big West Preseason Poll, Condon (top row, far left) guided the Mustangs to a third-place finish – the program's highest since a runner-up showing in 2014. Cal Poly won six of nine conference series while sweeping four Big West foes. Cal Poly's 18 Big West victories matched a program record set in 2009 while the 28 overall wins marked the program's highest total since prevailing 38 times in 2017. Condon, who became just the sixth head coach in Big West history to reach 200 conference victories during Cal Poly's 2-0 home win versus Long Beach State (April 20), was previously named Big West Coach of the Year in 2005, 2007 and 2009.
Clements (top row, second from left) finished the regular season ranked fourth among NCAA Division I hitters with a .464 (71-for-153) batting average that doubles as the third highest single season mark in the program's 50-year history. She also ranks 15th nationally with a .526 on-base percentage and 29th with 71 hits. The Big West leader with 105 total bases, a .686 slugging percentage and a .526 on-base percentage and ranked second for triples (four), fourth for doubles (11), fifth for runs (35) and ninth for homers (five), Clements hit safely in 39 of 45 matchups with 23 multi-hit-efforts (including nine three-hit games). Having averaged 1.6 hits per game, Clements ranks as the 36th toughest player to strike out in Division I, averaging just one per 25.5 at-bats (she closed the year with just three strikeouts in her final 114 at-bats).
Cal Poly's leadoff batter in 116 of 135 career outings, Clements remained the top hitter in program history and second leading hitter in Big West history with a .416 (194-for-466) career mark after three years. Her 194 hits also rank seventh all-time in Cal Poly history.
Clements is the first three-time All-Big West first team honoree since NFCA All-American righthander Sierra Hyland (2014, 2016-17) and the first to achieve the distinction in three successive years since lefthander Anna Cahn (2009-11). She's also Cal Poly's first Big West Player of the Year honoree since Cahn in 2010.
Barnett (top row, second from right), Cal Poly's first Big West Defensive Player of the Year recipient, started all 45 games behind the plate in 2024, played 310 of a possible 311 innings and remains second among NCAA Division I catchers having thrown out 19 would-be base stealers (in 40 attempts). She finished the season with a .993 fielding percentage with just two errors in 281 chances.
Ramuno (top row, far right), who earned All-Big West honorable mention recognition last year, closed her sophomore season as the Big West's leader and ranked 54th among NCAA Division I pitchers with 160 strikeouts. She also topped the Big West with five shutouts while finishing second with 160.1 innings pitched, third with a 2.31 ERA and .229 opposing batting average and fifth with 13 victories, 24 starts and 12 complete games. The March 18 and May 6 Big West Pitcher of the Week honoree, Ramuno recorded a 1.72 conference ERA in 22 appearances.
Ramuno finished with three double-digit strikeout performances, including a career high, 11-strikeout effort at UC San Diego (May 10). After just two seasons, Ramuno ranks seventh in program history with 302 strikeouts.
Batting 84 points higher than her .254 career average entering the season, Diaz (bottom row, left) finished second in Cal Poly's lineup with a .338 (45-for-133) mark. Having reached base in all but six of her 44 appearances, Diaz was 13th among Big West players with 27 runs scored. One of only two Mustangs with a four-hit effort this year, Diaz compiled 10 multi-hit outings. A starter in 131 of Cal Poly's last 132 games (she saw a streak of 119 straight starts snapped at Cal State Bakersfield April 13), Diaz closed her career third in program history with 36 steals.
Sargent (bottom row, center), an All-Big West second team honoree last spring, also established a new career batting high with a .333 (49-for-147) mark. Having reached base in 40 of 45 appearances, batting safely 32 times and with 14 multi-hit games, Sargent finished 10th among Big West players with 30 runs and 12th with 49 hits.
One of five Mustangs to start all 45 games this season, Blanchard (bottom row, right) finished fourth in the lineup with a .293 batting average – a 117-point improvement from her freshman year. One of just two Cal Poly players with a four-RBI outing this season after reaching the mark against Saint Mary's (Feb. 10), Blanchard finished ninth among Big West players with a team-leading 26 RBI. She also posted a perfect fielding percentage in 92 chances.
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