STANFORD, Calif. – Stanford softball’s Kayla Bonstrom was named a Senior CLASS Award Top-30 finalist, as announced recently by the organization.
Bonstrom was a 2015 NFCA Second Team All-American and a NFCA First Team All-West Region selection at first base. She is a three-time All-Pac-12 selection and was named to the All-Pac-12 First Team in 2015.
Bonstrom registered one of the best individual seasons in Stanford history during 2015, finishing in the top-11 in program history in multiple single-season categories including batting average (5th, .439), home runs (T-5th, 13), RBI (T-7th, 54), doubles (11th, 16) and fielding percentage (T-2nd, .997).
Bonstrom recorded the highest single-season slugging percentage in Stanford history (.806) – becoming the first Cardinal player to ever break the .800 mark. Bonstrom was named to the 2015 Pac-12 All-Defense Team, making just one error in 381 chances.
Bonstrom leads Stanford with a .357 batting average through nine games in 2016. (Photo by David Bernal)
Bonstrom was a 2015 Capital One Academic All-American and Capital One Academic All-District Team District 8 selection. She is a two-time Pac-12 All-Academic selection and a 2015 NFCA All-America Scholar Athlete.
Bonstrom was selected to the Center for International Security and Cooperation Interschool Honors Program in International Security Studies during her junior year to develop a thesis with the federal government related to national security. She will be presenting her senior thesis at the West Point Counter Terrorism Conference in April 2016.
Bonstrom is an active member in the Stanford community, regularly volunteering at team and individual community service opportunities. She volunteered at the Redwood City International Institute of the Bay Area to help immigrants prepare for citizenship tests. Bonstrom also volunteered with the softball team this past December at Project Open Hand in San Francisco. She spent time at the Boys and Girls Club in East Palo Alto during 2013.
To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character and competition. The complete list of candidates follows this release.
An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School, the Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities.
The 30 candidates will be narrowed to 10 finalists later in the season, and those 10 names will be placed on the official ballot. Ballots will be distributed through a nationwide voting system to media, coaches and fans, who will select one candidate who best exemplifies excellence in the four Cs of community, classroom, character and competition.
The Senior CLASS Award winner will be announced during the 2016 Women’s College World Series.