IOWA CITY, Iowa — Three University of Iowa softball student-athletes earned postseason recognition by the Big Ten Conference announced on Wednesday.
Freshman infielder Jena Young earned first team all-Big Ten and all-freshman honors. Junior outfielder Rylie Moss earned second team honors and senior Sammy Diaz was selected to the all-defensive team and earned the team’s Big Ten Sportsmanship Award.
Young, a Winterset, Iowa, native started every game for Iowa and finished second on the team hitting .373. In her freshman campaign she recorded a hit in all but 10 games and did not go longer than two games without recording a hit. Young led all freshman in the Big Ten in batting average. She is the toughest batter to strikeout, statistically in the Big Ten, and struck out the least (5) number of times amongst starters in the conference. Young led the Hawkeyes with four home runs and 15 multi-hit games including a career-high 4-for-4 against Minnesota.
Moss, a Muscatine, Iowa, native led the team hitting .390 in 39 games which was sixth best in the Big Ten. She started every game in right field before suffering a season-ending injury against Nebraska. She recorded a hit in all but seven games in which she played and at one point had a career-high 14 game on base streak. Moss recorded two three-hit games against CSU-Bakersfield and Michigan.
Diaz, a Cypress, California, native started all 46 games for Iowa at first base. She led the team with a .990 fielding percentage throughout the season and was perfect in Big Ten play. Diaz recorded 289 putouts in 308 chances. She had 16 assists and just three errors on the season.
Iowa has had first team honorees in back-to-back seasons for the first time since Megan Blank in 2014-15. Young is the fourth Hawkeye in four years to earn all-freshman accolades (Jalen Adams in 2023, Brylee Klosterman and Denali Loecker in 2021). Diaz is the first Hawkeye since Cheyenne Pratt in 2017 to earn all-defensive honors.