Female Athlete of the Year: Marissa Rocha (Softball)
Marissa Rocha helped the Panther softball team to another post-season berth as she finished the regular season with a .328 batting average. She had 42 hits and 30 RBI's to go along with her team high 13 doubles. Rocha and her teammates are coming off a Nor-Cal Regional series win and upset over #2 Feather River College and will travel to the top seed (San Mateo) for this weekend's Super Regional playoff series.
Rocha was selected as a 2nd Team All-Big 8 Conference first baseman. She had 11 games with multiple hits and finished a perfect 4 for 4 with 3 RBI's in the game she had the most hits. However, her best single game performance of the regular season was in her final home game as a Panther when she went 2 for 2, with 2 home runs (both 3-run shots), a sacrifice fly, 2 runs scored and 7 RBI's. While she is still undecided on where she will continue her softball career, she has been in talks with the University of Nevada-Reno, Southern Oregon, and Clemson.