Former Corona del Sol athlete and 2008 graduate Ashley Hansen has been named USA Softball National Player of the Year by the Amateur Softball Association of America.
Hansen, an outstanding two-sport athlete at Corona, played softball and volleyball all four years, garnering several high school awards including 2008 Arizona Softball Player of the Year before landing a Division I scholarship to Stanford University.
Hansen, who plays shortstop this season for the Cardinal, is only the second non-pitcher to receive this prestigious award, which has been considered the top honor in collegiate softball since its inception 10 years ago.
Hansen was recognized for this 2011 outstanding athletic achievement award partly because she led the nation in doubles per game (0.45), had a .495 batting average and a .558 on-base percentage.
“It was a great honor to receive the National Player of the Year award,” said Hansen, “but I did not do it alone. I am just one player on a great Stanford softball team.”
Individually, though, Hansen helped Stanford produce one of its most successful offensive seasons. In just her third season playing collegiate softball, Hansen set single season records at Stanford with 95 hits, a .495 batting average and a .797 slugging percentage.
Hansen also ranks among the top-10 in Stanford history with 25 doubles (second), 10 triples (second), 139 RBI (eighth) and 134 runs scored (seventh).
In addition to becoming the Cardinal’s first USA Softball National Player of the Year, Hansen was selected as the 2011 Pac-10 Player of the Year after she led the conference in batting average, on-base percentage, hits and doubles. She also received her third straight first team All-Pac-10 selection.
Hansen garnered her second career All-American honors when she was named to the 2011 First Team Louisville Slugger/NFCA All-American, was a first team All-West Region selection and is one of four candidates for the Honda Sports Award for softball as announced by the Collegiate Women Sports Awards.
The winner of the Honda Sports Award after nationwide balloting will become a candidate for The Honda-Broderick Cup, awarded annually to The Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year.
One of the 2011 statistics that Hansen is most proud of, though, is her distinction of being the third toughest player in the nation to strikeout. All season she struck out only five times while compiling 29 multi-hit games and 10 multi-RBI games.
Hansen, majoring in three subjects at Stanford—management, science and engineering—also received an All-Pac-10 academic award.
In addition to her collegiate accomplishments, Hansen made her first Women’s National Team in the summer of 2009 and was a member of the Women’s junior National Team that won a gold medal at the 2007 ISF Junior Women’s World Championships in The Netherlands.
Hansen is the daughter of Kevin and Ginger Hansen and has three older sisters, Tammi, Tara and Megan, all of whom played collegiate softball.
