‘Iolani pitcher Aleia Agbayani was chosen as Gatorade Hawaii Softball Player of the Year, the Gatorade Company announced Thursday.
The award recognizes outstanding athletic excellence, high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character on and off the field.
The 5-foot-5 senior pitcher, first baseman and outfielder led the Raiders to a 19-5 record and the Division I state championship. Agbayani batted .636 with 49 runs scored, 16 home runs and 57 RBI, posting a 1.455 slugging percentage, according to the news release.
She also drew 16 walks, stole 15 bases and did not strike out in 93 plate appearances. In the circle, Agbayani compiled an 8-2 record with a 3.60 ERA, earning the win in both the state semifinals and title game.
The daughter of former big-league outfielder Benny Agbayani, who helped the New York Mets to the World Series in 2000, Agbayani has volunteered as a peer Spanish tutor and as a youth softball coach.
“Aleia Agbayani was a very dangerous player every time we played against her,” Kamehameha coach Leo Sing Chow said in the news release. “She had so much confidence and she could change the momentum of the game.”
Agbayani has a 3.13 grade-point average, according to the release. She has signed a national letter of intent to play softball on scholarship at the Cal this fall.
Recent Gatorade Hawaii Softball Players of the Year:
>> 2019: Aleia Agbayani, ‘Iolani
>> 2018: Mari Foster, Roosevelt
>> 2017: Jocelyn Alo, Campbell
>> 2016: Jocelyn Alo, Campbell
>> 2015: Shearyna Labasan, Maryknoll
>> 2014: Aubree Kim, Mililani
How awkward would it have been to have give this award to a player who was in D2? Or a player who didn’t even make the state tournament? Hey, it happened in boy’s basketball…