Tayler Biehl may not have had a perfect fielding percentage like last year’s Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year, but there are few things more impressive than watching Arizona softball’s shortstop play defense. The Pac-12 recognized her skill by naming Biehl Co-Defensive Player of the Year along with Oregon’s Paige Sinicki.
Biehl is the second straight Arizona Wildcat to win the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year award after second baseman Allie Skaggs took the honor last season. The sophomore shortstop is the fifth Arizona player to win the award.
Biehl and Skaggs were just two of the seven Wildcats honored with postseason awards by the conference on Tuesday. Joining them are Regan Shockey, Carlie Scupin, Dakota Kennedy, Emily Schepp, and Aissa Silva.
In addition to being named one of the top two defenders, Biehl was named to the All-Pac-12 third team and the Pac-12 All-Defensive team. She finished the regular season with a .977 fielding percentage and a league-leading 103 assists. She also hit six home runs and two triples.
That’s that TB espresso!
just one minute of @Taylerbiehl20 highlights for no reason at all pic.twitter.com/eZ3wlpWDyd
— Arizona Softball (@ArizonaSoftball) May 3, 2024
“I love defense,” Biehl said. “I would rather go field 100 ground balls.”
Skaggs was honored as All-Pac-12 first team for the second straight year. It is her third all-conference honor overall. She leads the team with 13 home runs, ranking fourth in the Pac-12. Her 42 RBI are second on the team and fourth in the league.
Shockey was named to the All-Pac-12 first team, the All-Defensive team, and the All-Freshman team. The most surprising thing about Shockey was that she was not named the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year. Instead, the award went to UCLA pitcher Kaitlyn Terry.
Shockey led the league with four Pac-12 Freshman of the Week honors. She is the only Pac-12 freshman to make the list of 25 players who are in the running for the NFCA’s national freshman of the year award. Her .420 batting average leads the Wildcats and is third among all Division I freshmen. It ranks 33rd among DI players of all classes. She also leads UA with 74 hits, ranking second among DI freshmen and 13th overall.
On defense, Shockey leads the Wildcats’ outfield with 11 assists and has started two double plays from centerfield.
Kennedy joins Skaggs and Shockey on the All-Pac-12 first team. She also joins Shockey, Biehl, and Scupin on the All-Defensive team. Kennedy has made the first team both years of her collegiate career.
On offense, Kennedy has 10 home runs (13th in the Pac-12) and 60 hits (7th). Her .656 slugging percentage is ranked 10th in the conference. Defensively, she did not make an error all season and led the outfield with 94 putouts.
Scupin was named to the All-Pac-12 second team. She also made the All-Defensive team for the first time in her career after finishing with a perfect fielding percentage. She leads the team and is tied for second in the Pac-12 with 52 RBI.
Silva joins Scupin on the second team. She leads the Pac-12 with 21 wins, becoming the first Wildcat to have 20 or more wins since 2019. The 21 victories rank 14th in Division I. Her 99 strikeouts and 2.99 ERA both lead Arizona.
Schepp stepped into the role of the Wildcats’ everyday catcher as a freshman and made a mark for herself. She joins Shockey on the All-Freshman team. Her 39 hits are third among Pac-12 freshmen.
The Wildcats left for the Pac-12 Softball Tournament on Tuesday afternoon. They will face Washington on Thursday, May 9 at 6:30 p.m. MST/PDT on Pac-12 Networks.