Briana Sanchez impacted Heartland Conference softball in just her freshman year at Incarnate Word as she picked up three awards at season's end.
On the way to a conference-leading 22 wins the San Antonio Marshall product also led the league with her 283 strikeouts which also are a UIW school record. With those numbers she was voted pitcher of the year.
And that honor was followed by her being named the Heartland freshman of the year. And, she was placed on the all-conference first team. She led the league in four statistical categories.
Sanchez was joined on the first team by teammate Lea Padilla who was selected as the designated player. In the conference Padilla was first with her 13 home runs and she was second with 46 runs batted in.
Picking up second team all-conference honors were Cardinals Serena Smitham in the outfield and infielders Melanie Padilla and Alex Carraman.
This was the second time Carraman and Lea Padilla have been voted to Heartland all-teams.
At the completion of his first season as Cardinals coach Todd Bradley was voted co-coach of the year in the Heartland. He directed his club to a season mark of 27-24 including 14-6 in the conference. UIW advanced to the championship tournament where the Cardinals finished fourth.
