June 19, 2017
San Jose, Calif. - Coming off the most dominant season in the circle of her career, and one of the best in program history, senior pitcher Katelyn Linford was named a 2017 Fastpitch News (FPN) NCAA Division I All-American.
"This honor is a great way for Katelyn to cap her career," said SJSU softball head coach Peter Turner. "All the hard work she put in over the past four years culminated in one of the most dominant pitching performances in Spartan history. Flat out, if Linny doesn't do what she did we don't win the Mountain West Championship, compete in the NCAA Tournament and win the first postseason game in program history."
Linford, who earned honorable mention distinction, is just the fourth Spartan in the 31-year history of the program to be named an All-American for her performance on the field. She joins Sharon Cafini, who was a third-team honoree in 1990, and Jackie Tawney and Noleana Woodard, both third-team honorees in 1992.
The San Bruno, Calif., native set career-bests in ERA (2.45), wins (24), appearances (43), starts (30), complete games (18), shutouts (6), saves (4), innings (211.1), strikeouts (194) and opponents batting average (.239).
Her 24 victories and 6.42 batters struck out per seven innings pitched, both rank as third most in a season for a Spartan. Her 194 strikeouts rank fourth and her 43 appearances and four saves are fifth all-time in a season at SJSU.
Among Mountain West pitchers, she ranked second in all the following categories, and nationally, her four saves rank 23rd, 24 wins rank 24th and 194 strikeouts rank 34th. Her 6.42 strikeouts and 1.06 walks per seven innings rank 100th and 17th respectively.
For her career, Linford's 5.46 strikeouts per seven innings are the fourth best in SJSU history as are her 386 strikeouts and 122 appearances. Her 50 victories rank fifth all-time, as do her five saves. Linford made 82 career starts, which are the sixth-most for a Spartan, and tossed 505.1 innings, the seventh most in program history.