Jaguar Softball’s Farish Beard Named One of 10 Finalists for Senior CLASS Award
Beard was selected as only one of 10 finalists for the Senior CLASS Award to be awarded during the 2015 Women’s College World Series. It honors a student-athlete who excels on and off the field. Fan voting is open now through May 11. | Photo usajaguars.com
South Alabama softball senior pitcher Farish Beard earned another distinction on Tuesday when she was named one of 10 finalists for the Senior CLASS Award. The Senior CLASS Award honors student-athletes that excel on and off the field.
CLASS is an acronym for “Celebrating Loyalty, and Achievement for Staying in School”. The award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages them to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities.
Ballots will be distributed nationwide to media, coaches and fans who will select one candidate who best exemplifies excellence in the four “C’s” of Community, Classroom, Character and Competition.
Fan voting is available online through May 11 at www.seniorCLASSaward.com with the winner being announced during the 2015 Women’s College World Series.
Beard has a 3.4 GPA and was named the 2013-14 National Fastpitch Coaches Association All-America Scholar-Athlete. She was also part of the 2014 Jaguar team that earned the Sun Belt Conference Team Academic Award with a 3.36 overall GPA.
On the field, Beard is 5-2 on the season with a team-low 1.40 ERA with 55 strikeouts and 19 walks with only nine earned runs in 45 innings pitched.
She was a top-25 finalist for the 2014 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year award, was named to the NFCA All-South Regional Second Team and the All-Sun Belt Conference First Team. She led the NCAA in ERA for three weeks and topped the country in hits allowed per seven inning for two weeks. She finished fifth in the NCAA in hits allowed per seven innings (3.40), sixth in ERA (1.23) and ninth in strikeouts per seven innings (9.5).
Beard has been a three-time SBC pitcher of the week and has led the SBC in opposing batting average (.141), strikeouts (224), hits allowed (80), runs allowed (40) and doubles allowed (9), ranking among the top four in ERA, innings pitched, strikeouts looking, wins and fewest earned runs, walks, triples and home runs allowed. She even held opposing batters to the second-lowest average in a season in program history while recording the second-best strikeouts-per-seven-innings ratio in school history. Her win and shutout totals were third-most in a single season for a US pitcher.
Congratulations Farish!
Jaguar fans, go vote at http://www.seniorclassaward.com/ and help Farish bring home the award for her hard work both on and off the field!