Rachel Garcia

Rachel Lauren Garcia (born March 30, 1997) is an American, collegiate All-American, softball pitcher for the UCLA Bruins of the Pac-12 Conference.[1][2] Garcia led the Bruins to the 2019 Women's College World Series championship, where she was named the Women's College World Series Most Outstanding Player.

Rachel Garcia
Personal information
NationalityAmerican
Born (1997-03-30) March 30, 1997
Lancaster, California
Height5 ft 5 in (1.65 m)
Sport
CountryUSA
SportSoftball
College teamUCLA Bruins
Medal record
Women's softball
Representing the  United States
Pan American Games
2019 Lima Team

Garcia won the Honda Sports Award and USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year as the nation's best softball player in 2018 and 2019, and the Honda Cup as the nation's top female athlete in 2019. She was also named a two-time First-team All-American in 2018 and 2019. Garcia will represent Team USA in softball at the 2020 Summer Olympics.[3] Garcia was recently voted to the Greatest College Softball Team at the utility position, the only active player to achieve the recognition.[4]

Early life

Garcia attended Highland High School in Palmdale, California. During her senior season she posted a 26–2 record with a 0.20 earned run average and 418 strikeouts in 175 innings, adding 20 shutouts, including 10 no-hitters and six perfect games, and was named the 2015 Gatorade National Softball Player of the Year.[1]

College

Freshmen Year

Garcia would redshirt her freshman year due to a knee injury she suffered in high school. As a redshirt freshmen, she earned NFCA National Freshman of the Year along with all-conference honors and a Second-Team All-American selection. Garcia led all Pac-12 pitchers in strikeouts and was tied for first in saves, third in wins, fourth in innings, fifth in opposing batting average (.203) and sixth in ERA, while she had 14 complete games and was a part of 23 shutouts, including five solo shutouts. In addition to pitching, she was one of the team's best hitters as tallied a .325 batting average, eight homers and 29 RBI and had 15 multiple-hit games and eight multi-RBI contests.[1]

Garcia led the Bruins to a No. 5 seed at the World Series with her 23–9 win-loss record. In her debut at the Women's College World Series, Garcia pitched all of UCLA's games and left with a 1–1 record, falling in the second round. In her second game against Washington Huskies she struck out seven batters in a 1–0 loss.

Sophomore Year

During her sophomore year, Garcia posted a 29–4 record, with a 1.31 ERA. Garcia led all Pac-12 pitchers in wins, strikeouts and opposing batting average, was third in innings pitched and fifth in ERA and achieved a career best in hits and batting average. She struck out 42 batters in 23 innings in four games at the Women's College World Series, and was named to the All-WCWS Team. Following an outstanding season, Garcia was named Pac-12 Conference Player of the Year, USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year and the Honda Sports Award for softball.[1][5]

Junior Year

During her junior year, Garcia posted a 29–1 record, with a 1.14 ERA and 286 strikeouts in 202 innings. Garcia led the Bruins to the NCAA title completing four of five victories pitched, throwing a shutout, a 10-inning win, batting .333 and leading with eight RBIs, including defeating the No. 1 Oklahoma Sooners back-to-back in the finale series.[6] Following her performance she was named the Women's College World Series Most Outstanding Player.[7]

Following her outstanding season, Garcia received numerous awards, including First Team All-Conference honors and the first player to earn both Pac-12 Conference Player and Pitcher of the Year awards in the same season.[8] She was also named NFCA Division I Softball Player of the Year, ESPNW Softball Player of the Year, Honda Female Athlete of the Year and Honda Softball Player of the Year, USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year, and a First-Team All-American.[9][10][11][12][13]

Team USA

Garcia saw limited playing time on the Team USA "Stand Beside Her" tour that was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic in March, 2020. She will return to UCLA for her final collegiate year before joining Team USA, prior to the rescheduled Olympics in July, 2021.[14]

Statistics

UCLA Bruins
YEAR G AB R H BA RBI HR 3B 2B TB SLG BB SO SB
2017 60 169 17 55 .325 29 8 0 12 91 .538% 21 14 0
2018 61 174 29 59 .339 54 11 0 6 98 .563% 23 26 0
2019 61 172 34 59 .343 57 11 1 9 103 .588% 35 20 0
TOTALS 182 515 80 173 .336 140 30 1 27 292 .567% 79 60 0
YEAR W L GP GS CG Sh SV IP H R ER BB SO ERA WHIP
2017 23 9 45 25 14 5 3 202.2 152 69 54 52 212 1.87 1.01
2018 29 4 39 27 21 9 2 208.0 104 48 39 48 315 1.31 0.73
2019 29 1 36 25 19 7 4 202.0 117 40 33 43 286 1.14 0.79
TOTALS 81 14 120 77 54 21 9 612.2 373 157 126 143 813 1.44 0.84

USA National Team
YEAR W L GP GS CG Sh SV IP H R ER BB SO ERA WHIP
2020 1 0 4 0 0 0 0 7.0 6 2 2 1 7 2.00 1.00
YEAR G AB R H BA RBI HR 3B 2B TB SLG BB SO SB
2020 2 5 0 2 .400 2 0 0 0 2 .400% 3 1 0

References
  1. "Rachel Garcia Biography". uclabruins.com. Retrieved June 5, 2019.
  2. "Rachel Garcia Bio". teamusa.org. Retrieved June 5, 2019.
  3. "2020 U.S. Olympic Softball Team". teamusa.org. Retrieved October 7, 2019.
  4. Hays, Graham (June 9, 2020). "Lauren Chamberlain, Jessica Mendoza Voted to ESPN's Greatest All-Time College Softball Team". ESPN.com. Retrieved July 7, 2020.
  5. "UCLA's Garcia tabbed 2018 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year". nfca.org. May 30, 2018. Retrieved August 31, 2020.
  6. "UCLA WCWS Stats". NCAA.org. Retrieved July 9, 2020.
  7. Nguyen, Thuc Nhi (June 4, 2019). "UCLA softball holds off Oklahoma to win NCAA title in walk-off fashion". Los Angeles Daily News. Retrieved June 4, 2019.
  8. DeMeyer, Tess (June 24, 2019). "UCLA softball star Rachel Garcia named Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year". USA Today. Retrieved August 31, 2020.
  9. "UCLA wins 2019 Women's College World Series against Oklahoma on Kinsley Washington's walk-off single". NCAA.com. June 4, 2019. Retrieved June 4, 2019.
  10. "Rachel Garcia of UCLA Named Honda Sport Award Winner for Softball". collegiatewomensportsawards.com. June 11, 2018. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
  11. "Honda Cup Winner Rachel Garcia to be Featured on the Honda Float at the 131st Rose Parade®". collegiatewomensportsawards.com. December 19, 2019. Retrieved March 22, 2020.
  12. "Rachel Garcia Wins 2019 Honda Cup". uclabruins.com. June 24, 2019. Retrieved March 22, 2020.
  13. "Back-to-Back: Rachel Garcia Again Wins USA Softball Player of the Year". uclabruins.com. May 28, 2019. Retrieved June 4, 2019.
  14. "UCLA softball's Rachel Garcia, Bubba Nickles to Return for Senior Seasons". Daily News. May 7, 2020. Retrieved July 9, 2020.
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