O’Hara, Watson Cap 2014 Season With All-Region Awards
5/15/2014 11:44:00 AM | Softball
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Freshman Sydney O'Hara and senior Jasmine Watson, both members of the All-Atlantic Coast Conference Team, rounded out the 2014 season by earning All-Mid-Atlantic Region First Team honors, the National Fastpitch Coaches Association announced on Thursday, May 15.
This is the first time since 2005 and only the third time in school history that Syracuse placed two members on the NFCA All-Region first team. O'Hara made her way onto the team as a utility/pitcher after spending time throughout the season as a pitcher, designated player (dp), first baseman and even outfield while Watson took the dp/utility-non-pitcher position, splitting time between first and catcher.
O'Hara, a first team All-ACC representative as just a freshman, played in all 49 games and made 48 starts this season. She was lauded earlier in the season by the NFCA as well, becoming the first player in program history to be named the National Player of the Week, in addition to her two ACC Player of the Week honors.
A two-way player as a rookie, O'Hara started a team-high 27 games in the circle while ranking second on the squad with a .333 batting average. With seven shutouts on the season, O'Hara ranks 33rd nationally and tied for third in a single-season at Syracuse. One of those shutouts came in O'Hara's first career start on opening day, a no-hitter with a career-high 12 strikeouts. She compiled a 16-12 record with a 3.83 earned run average to go along with 15 complete games and 157 strikeouts in 149.2 innings.
At the plate, O'Hara finished third on the team in base knocks (49) and had a team-high 14 doubles, which ranks third in a single-season at SU. She added four home runs and 26 runs batted in.
A three-time all-conference member, including All-ACC Third Team in 2014, Watson had one of the best offensive seasons in Orange history. She tied the single-season home run mark at Syracuse, pounding out 16 dingers, which ranks 22nd in the country. Watson also drove in 44 runs and slugged .671, which are second and third in a single-season at SU, respectively and both rank in the top-10 of the ACC this year.
Earlier in the campaign, Watson hit a homer in four straight games and strung together six in six games. During that stretch Watson had her program-best fourth career multi-home run game and had the first of her two grand slams, the most in a season at Syracuse. That first grand slam gave Watson the all-time home run record with 39 while the second came on the last day of the regular season and was the single-season tying long shot.
Watson leaves 'Cuse as the all-time leader with 46 home runs and sits second with 144 RBIs and a .553 slugging percentage.
