The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Frazier and Daugherty Receive Player and Coach of the Year Honors
5/9/2023 12:02:00 PM | Softball
DALLAS – It's a year of firsts for the Blazers this season. UAB Softball's Sierra Frazier and Head Coach AJ Daugherty received the highest honors in their respective categories as player and coach in Conference USA.
The senior catcher from Corona, California, was named the 2023 C-USA Player of the Year, while the first-year head coach received the 2023 Coach of the Year nod Tuesday afternoon. The Blazers come off a second-place regular season finish with a 29-23 record overall and 16-8 league record.
SIERRA FRAZIER - PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Throughout her years as a Blazer, she consistently made C-USA All-Conference First Team and NFCA First Team All-Mid-East Region. She finishes her reign as a Blazer with an additional honor that she has to herself.
Frazier is collecting her first C-USA POTY honor. She closed out her senior season with much to be proud of, finishing with 12 HRs, 44 RBIs, 134 hits and playing 50 of 52 games in the regular season. She was written into the history books as the All-Time Career RBI leader earlier this season, finishing with 176 in the regular season. She led the team in slugging with a percentage of .679, scored 24 runs and connected for 44 hits from February 10 to May 7.
At the plate, she's one of the toughest to strike out in the nation, being ranked ninth and struck out only four times. On the defensive, she finished with 199 putouts, 25 assists and caught six runners stealing.
"I'm so grateful I could receive this award," said Frazier on receiving the honor. "I couldn't thank my teammates, coaches and family enough for always pushing me to work hard and be my best every day. It truly is an honor, and hopefully I can lead our team to victory this week. Go Blazers!"
AJ DAUGHERTY - COACH OF THE YEAR
Daugherty entered the helm of becoming the head coach of the Blazers in July of 2022. He toted an impressive JuCo and High School coaching resume, helping the Wallace State Lions to a .818 record in his six seasons. He's no stranger to superlatives, being named the ACCC Coach of the year and NFCA South Regional Coaching Staff of the Year in 2021 and 2022.
With the Blazers finishing 25-24 in the conference last season, the Green and Gold were selected to finish fifth. At the conclusion of the regular season, he put the Blazers on a 29-23 record and finished second in conference standings. Daugherty brought UAB to the first series win over UNT in five years and a No. 19 ranking double plays (.47 per game). Daugherty brought the team to three walk-off victories, a perfect game performance in the circle and C-USA Player of the Year honor to add to his Coach of the Year honor.
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2023 CONFERENCE USA SOFTBALL TOURNAMENT
UAB Softball is going to the C-USA Softball Tournament!
The Blazers are set to play on Thursday, May 11 at noon against the winner of the UNT v. MTSU/La Tech game. For all C-USA TournamentInformation, check out the C-USA Championship Central Page.
