The Cougar trio helped lead Azusa Pacific to a 26-20 regular-season campaign, its best record since 2005, and a fourth-place finish in the GSAC.
Halma, a first baseman/pitcher out of Long Beach, Calif., led the Cougars in batting this season with a .378 average. She hit safely in 31 of 46 games and had 6 doubles, 4 triples and collected 25 RBIs while batting third in the line-up. She had 18 multiple-hit games, including a quartet of 3-hit contests.
In the pitcher’ circle she fashioned a 12-10 record with a 2.61 earned run average in 142 innings of work. She defeated a pair of nationally-ranked teams, shutting out No. 11 Concordia University on 4 hits in late March before limiting No. 3 Point Loma Nazarene to just a run in 7 innings of work in last week’s regular-season finale.
A 4-year player out of Pacifica High in Garden Grove, Calif., Hundley is a 3-year ace of the Cougar pitching staff. This season she is 13-10 with 2.12 ERA and leads the GSAC in strikeouts with 170 in 142 innings pitched. She also has a team-high 7 shutouts, 2 of which came in 3-hit performances over the NAIA’s No. 3-ranked teams, first California Baptist University on March 7 and then Point Loma Nazarene this past Saturday in the regular-season finale. Twice this season she set the school single-game record with 15 strikeouts, first against Cal State East Bay and then again against Hope International University.
With 406 strikeouts for her career, Hundley is only the second Cougar pitcher ever to reach the 400-strikeout plateau, and her 41 career victories rank seventh on the all-time Azusa Pacific chart.
A 2-year Cougar out of Vacaville, Calif., Whitten has started all 46 games in centerfield. She is batting .350 on the season and leads the team with 56 hits, 4 triples and 14 stolen bases. She has struck out a team-low 11 time in 166 plate appearances. She has hit safely in 34 game, including a team-high 17 multiple-hit contests. In mid-season she put together a 10-game hitting streak, all part of a stretch in which she hit safely in 16-of-17 games.
Whitten is the only repeat Cougar on the All-GSAC team. In fact, this year’s 3 honorees are the most by a set of Cougars since the 2003 team was tabbed with 3 All-GSAC performers.
Azusa Pacific opens the inaugural GSAC Postseason Tournament Tuesday (April 27) with a single-elimination game vs. Biola University (19-20) at noon (PDT) on the campus of California Baptist University in Riverside. The Biola/APU winner will then take on Cal Baptist in the first game of a best of 2-of-3 series with the Lancers later in the day.
Click here to view the entire 2009 All-GSAC Softball Team.
