San Francisco State's
Brylynn Vallejos has been named the 2022 CCAA Most Valuable Player to headline the list of 31 honorees and five special award winners as voted on by the conference's 10 head coaches. Sisters
Lehua DeLeon and
Kai DeLeon were also named to the All-CCAA Team.
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Vallejos, who was also named to the All-CCAA First Team, was an offensive standout at the top of the order all season for the Gators. The sophomore started all 53 games in center field and led the CCAA in hits (75), doubles (18), home runs (10), and runs scored (64). She ranked fourth in batting average (.408), third in on-base percentage (.464), and second in both slugging percentage (.717) and stolen bases (37). Vallejos was also in the top 10 of the conference in triples (fifth, 5), and her 118 total bases have her ranked 18th in NCAA Division II. Vallejos collected two CCAA Player of the Week awards during the season, and she posted multi-hit games in 23-of-53 contests, including two different 4-for-4 performances. She is the first San Francisco State student-athlete ever to win CCAA Softball Player of the Year.
It was Vallejos' third consecutive season with a CCAA honor – she was named CCAA Freshman of the Year and to the First Team in 2019. In 2020, she was named a CCAA All-Star in the pandemic-shortened season. Additionally, she was named to the 2020 CoSIDA Academic All-America Third Team, an NFCA All-American in 2019, and has been named to the NFCA Top 50 Watch List twice, in 2020 and again this season. At .426, Vallejos is the first Gator to post a career batting average over .400. Vallejos is also the program leader in stolen bases (97), and is among the Top 10 career leader in nearly every offensive category, and holds several single-season records.
Sophomore
Lehua DeLeon was named to the First Team at second base while freshman
Kai DeLeon was named to the Second Team at shortstop. The middle infielders were a large part why SF State led the nation in double plays turned.
Lehua DeLeon started all 53 games at second base and finished the season with a .345 batting average. The Turlock native was tied for second in the CCAA in doubles (16), third in stolen bases (31) and at-bats (177), seventh in hits (62), eighth in RBI (34), and tenth in walks (19). Defensively, she was fourth in assists (106). DeLeon is a career .332 batter, which is sixth highest in a career for an SF State player. She had 31 stolen bases and her 44 career stolen bases are seventh all-time by a Gator.
In her first season for the Gators,
Kai DeLeon appeared in all 53 games and made 50 starts. She was second on the team behind Vallejos in batting (.368) and was tied for third in the CCAA with a team-high 11 sacrifice bunts. Her .368 average was also ninth highest in a single season by a Gator in program history. She was tied for third on the team with 53 hits. DeLeon led the league in assists with 150, 25 more than the next closest player.
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