University of Minnesota Athletics
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RHP/INF
/ Softball
INF
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Photo by: Brad Rempel
Schwartz Earns Spot on Big Ten All-Defensive Team
5/9/2025 10:58:00 AM | Softball
Valencia Tabbed Sportsmanship Honoree
MINNEAPOLIS – Two members of the Minnesota softball team were recognized by the Big Ten Friday as the conference awards were announced.
Junior pitcher Sydney Schwartz was named to the Big Ten All-Defensive Team, while senior infielder Nani Valencia represented the Gophers as their Sportsmanship Honoree.
A native of Victoria, Minn., Schwartz was the team's go-to pitcher this season, appearing in 39 games (fourth in the Big Ten through the regular season) with 27 starts (third in the league) and tallying a team-high 158.0 innings, good for fifth in the Big Ten. She threw six shutouts this season to rank second in the Big Ten and seventh nationally.
Finishing with a 10-16 record, Schwartz recorded a 2.84 earned run average and 123 strikeouts to 61 walks. She posted three saves on the year, which ranked fourth in the Big Ten, while her 13 complete games ranked fifth in the conference.
Half of her six shutouts came on one weekend, highlighted by her first career no-hitter. For her performance against Pitt and North Dakota, Schwartz took home the first weekly conference honors of her career when she was named Big Ten Pitcher of the Week. She went 3-0 and added a save in 16.0 scoreless innings over four appearances to help Minnesota to a pair of wins over both Pitt and North Dakota. Schwartz struck out 15 on the weekend with just six hits allowed and four walks issued. She limited opponents to a .105 batting average.
In the field this season, she sported a .993 field percentage with 90 putouts and 54 assists with one error in 145 total chances. Within conference play, she was perfect on 46 chances.
Schwartz becomes the third Gopher pitcher to make the Big Ten's All-Defensive Team, joining Sara Groenewegen (2017) and Amber Fiser (2021).
Valencia was dubbed the Sportsmanship Honoree for the second time in her career, also earning the distinction as a sophomore in 2023. Valencia led the team with a .335 batting average. She was also one of three Gophers to have more walks (19) than strikeouts (15) this season. In fact, Valencia had more extra-base hits (16) than punchouts this year.
Hailing from Georgetown, Ky., Valencia started all 50 games and led the team with 155 at-bats and 52 hits and was second in doubles (11), home runs (5), RBI (29), total bases (78) and slugging percentage (.503), and came in third in runs (22), walks (19) and on-base percentage (.411).
Junior pitcher Sydney Schwartz was named to the Big Ten All-Defensive Team, while senior infielder Nani Valencia represented the Gophers as their Sportsmanship Honoree.
A native of Victoria, Minn., Schwartz was the team's go-to pitcher this season, appearing in 39 games (fourth in the Big Ten through the regular season) with 27 starts (third in the league) and tallying a team-high 158.0 innings, good for fifth in the Big Ten. She threw six shutouts this season to rank second in the Big Ten and seventh nationally.
Finishing with a 10-16 record, Schwartz recorded a 2.84 earned run average and 123 strikeouts to 61 walks. She posted three saves on the year, which ranked fourth in the Big Ten, while her 13 complete games ranked fifth in the conference.
Half of her six shutouts came on one weekend, highlighted by her first career no-hitter. For her performance against Pitt and North Dakota, Schwartz took home the first weekly conference honors of her career when she was named Big Ten Pitcher of the Week. She went 3-0 and added a save in 16.0 scoreless innings over four appearances to help Minnesota to a pair of wins over both Pitt and North Dakota. Schwartz struck out 15 on the weekend with just six hits allowed and four walks issued. She limited opponents to a .105 batting average.
In the field this season, she sported a .993 field percentage with 90 putouts and 54 assists with one error in 145 total chances. Within conference play, she was perfect on 46 chances.
Schwartz becomes the third Gopher pitcher to make the Big Ten's All-Defensive Team, joining Sara Groenewegen (2017) and Amber Fiser (2021).
Valencia was dubbed the Sportsmanship Honoree for the second time in her career, also earning the distinction as a sophomore in 2023. Valencia led the team with a .335 batting average. She was also one of three Gophers to have more walks (19) than strikeouts (15) this season. In fact, Valencia had more extra-base hits (16) than punchouts this year.
Hailing from Georgetown, Ky., Valencia started all 50 games and led the team with 155 at-bats and 52 hits and was second in doubles (11), home runs (5), RBI (29), total bases (78) and slugging percentage (.503), and came in third in runs (22), walks (19) and on-base percentage (.411).
Minnesota (4) - Michigan (0) Highlights
Friday, May 02
Sydney Schwartz Throws No-Hitter
Tuesday, April 29
Gophers (8) - North Dakota (0) Highlights
Sunday, April 27
Gophers (5) - North Dakota (3) Highlights
Saturday, April 26