May 2, 2002
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. - Baylor sophomore outfielder Kelly Levesque and junior pitcher Joni Miller were named to the first team all-Big 12 Conference softball team, announced today at the pre-tournament banquet. Freshman pitcher Cristin Vitek was named to the second team.
The Lady Bears also placed three student-athletes on the Academic all-Big 12 Conference teams. Kourtny Westerfeld, a junior education and mathematics major from Crawford, Texas, earned first-team honors. Senior Holly Fields, an Andrews, Texas, native, joined Miller on the second team; Fields and Miller are both information systems majors.
Levesque, in her first season at Baylor after transferring from Louisiana State last summer, appears in the top 10 of seven offensive categories in the latest conference statistical rankings. The Sun City, Calif., native leads the Lady Bears and ranks ninth in the Big 12 with a .339 batting average. Levesque is also tied for the conference lead in walks, ranks sixth in hits; her .462 on base percentage ranks fourth in the conference and second all-time at Baylor. She is also tied for fourth in the conference with 35 runs scored, a total that ranks third in school history.
Miller, a native of Edmond, Okla., earns all-conference honors for the second straight season. A second-team selection last season, Miller is 17-6 on the season with a 1.06 ERA and 125 strikeouts in 151.2 innings of work. She was even stronger in conference play, going 4-1 with a 0.74 ERA. Miller is tied for the Big 12 lead in saves with five. In the national rankings, Miller ranks 37th in ERA and tied for ninth in saves.
Vitek, a product of Taylor High School in Katy, Texas, was one of four freshman pitchers to earn all-conference honors. She is 17-8 this year with a 0.87 ERA that ranks third in the Big 12. Vitek, who leads the conference with 43 appearances, has tallied a school-record 184 strikeouts this season, a figure that ranks fourth in the Big 12. She is 14th nationally in ERA and tied for 18th nationally with four saves.
Since the inception of the Big 12 Conference in 1997, seven Lady Bears have earned all-conference honors. Miller joins Naomi Fitzgerald as the only two-time honorees in Baylor history. This marks the first time Baylor has ever placed to players on the first team. There have been 19 Lady Bears earn 38 academic all-conference honors in that time; Fields and Miller are the 11th and 12th multiple honorees, both receiving honors for the second straight season.
Junior catcher Selena Collins of Texas A&M was selected as player of the year. Texas freshman pitcher Catherine Osterman was named pitcher of the year and freshman of the year. Longhorns' head coach Connie Clark, who guided UT to the regular season conference title, was honored as coach of the year.
Baylor begins play in the seventh-annual Big 12 Conference Softball Tournament at 11 a.m. CDT Friday against No. 24 Texas A&M. The game will be broadcast live on KRZI 1660/1580 AM in the Waco, Texas, area.
