The UCSD spring sports athletes, led by the softball and baseball players, garnered multiple All-America, all-conference, all-region and academic all-district awards that were announced last week.
Five players each from the baseball and softball teams earned awards from the California Collegiate Athletic Association.
The UCSD baseball team finished 30-23-1 overall, just missing a postseason berth. The team finished fifth overall in the CCAA after being picked to place 10th in the preseason poll and had members Jeff Riddle, Alex Cremidan, James Sanders, Matt Smith and John Bologna honored by the league.
Sanders took top honors, earning one of 16 total positions on the National Collegiate Athletic Association All-West Region second team. Sanders finished 3-1 with a 2.15 ERA. He also notched six saves in his role as closer for the Tritons, which tied him for second-most in the conference.
Riddle, UCSD’s sophomore designated hitter, was the sole Triton designated to the All-CCAA first team. Riddle was an integral part of UCSD’s explosive offense, since he led or was tied for most of the Tritons’ major offensive categories, including hits, RBIs, doubles and home runs.
Junior pitchers Cremidan and Sanders each earned All-CCAA second team honors to join Riddle in the ranks of the league elite. Cremidan anchored the starting pitching staff with a 7-2 record and 3.07 ERA, placing him fifth-best in the CCAA.
Smith and Bologna continued the torrent of Triton juniors earning distinctions by being noted as All-CCAA honorable ention winners. Both scored 37 runs to lead the Tritons, while Smith committed only one error in 117 chances in center field. Smith was also a two-time CCAA Player of the Week.
Bologna also earned a CCAA Player of the Week award. His 27 steals led the team and was the second-highest total in the league.
UCSD’s award recipients from the softball team were led by sophomore Amy Mettee, who was selected to the NCAA Division II All-West Region first team and the Louisville Slugger/National Fastpitch Coaches Association Division II All-America third team for third base.
Mettee led the league with a .394 batting average and was the Tritons’ unquestionable MVP offensively, leading UCSD in hits (78), runs (46), doubles (18), triples (96), home runs (5), slugging percentage (.621) and stolen bases (15). Mettee was also selected as CCAA’s Player of the Week twice during the regular season and was selected to the All-CCAA first team.
Mettee was joined in national honors by senior pitcher Leea Harlan. Harlan posted a 2.32 ERA this season en route to picking up 12 wins. She holds the UCSD career record in wins, innings pitched and strikeouts. She earned nomination to the NCAA All-West Region second team, as well as All-CCAA second-team honors.
Senior left fielder Kristina Anderson joined Harlan on the All-West Region second team and also received All-CCAA honorable mention honors after hitting .316 and leading the Tritons this year with 35 RBIs.
Other league award selections included the second half of the Tritons’ senior pitching duo, Christi Martinelli, who threw her way to a 20-9 record with a 1.41 ERA this year. Her 208 strikeouts were over 20 strikeouts more than the second-place pitcher in the league. Martinelli was named CCAA’s Pitcher of the Week twice.
Sophomore infielder Kim Aggabao joined Mettee in All-CCAA first team honors after hitting .296 this year and leading the league with nine hit-by-pitches.
UCSD also had four female athletes and one male athlete selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America to Verizon Academic District awards.
Anderson, a human development major with a 3.39 GPA, was named to the Verizon Academic All-America College Division Softball District VIII Team for the second consecutive year.
Joining Anderson with All-District VIII College At-Large Team nominations were Lindsey Meeks, Lyndsey Tadlock and Samara Silverman.
Meeks, a senior biochemistry major with a 3.701 GPA, was an All-American four years in a row for the UCSD women’s swimming team, which finished fourth at this year’s NCAA national championships.
Tadlock was the senior team captain of the Triton women’s tennis team, which won the CCAA title, finished ranked 13th in the nation and went to the NCAA national quarterfinals.
Silverman, a junior water polo player sporting a 3.615 GPA, broke her own single-season record with 74 steals this year en route to taking over the UCSD career record for steals. She also earned All-WWPA honorable mention for the 2002 season.
The lone Verizon Academic All-District VIII College At-Large Team selection for the men was senior fencer Justin Hunt. Hunt, a chemistry major with a 3.87 GPA, competed in the epee division and helped lead the Tritons to an Intercollegiate Fencing Conference of Southern California title.
