Hall and Shults Earn Top Honors in the Mountain West

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Boise State softball senior Kelsey Hall and head coach Justin Shults were named Mountain West Player of the Year and Coach of the Year, respectively, by the conference, Wednesday.

Hall is a three-time MW Player of the Week honoree this season, batting .444 in conference games, with six doubles, eight home runs, 37 RBI and 25 runs. She is currently slugging 1.000 with an on-base percentage of .581 and is leading her competition in slugging percentage, on-base percentage, runs batted in and is tied for first in home runs.

Overall, the Sacramento, Calif., native is batting .409 with 11 home runs and 51 RBI. She was also named All-MW First Team after receiving a second-team honor last year. Hall is the third Bronco to be named Mountain West Player of the Year and the first since Rebekah Cervantes did in 2018.

He was selected by his peers in the conference after leading the Broncos to their second MW regular season title (2018). The Blue and Orange lead the conference in batting average (.332), slugging percentage (.617), on-base percentage (.446), OPS (1.063), runs scored (172), runs batted in (164), home runs (39), total bases (342), walks (100) and fielding double plays (9).

The Broncos placed six student-athletes on the all-conference teams and their 36 honorees over the last eight seasons are the most in the Mountain West.

Junior Taylor Caudill (pitcher) and fifth-year senior Eliyah Flores (shortstop) garnered first-team honors, while senior Autumn Bennett (third base), junior Jordyn Hutchins (outfield) and redshirt-senior Serena Huchingson (catcher) earned second-team honors.

This is Caudill's first All-MW team selection. She is currently ranked third with an ERA of 2.38, second with 76 1/3 innings pitched and 73 batters struck out and tied for first with nine wins and 12 games started in conference play.

Flores was a first-team selection in 2022. She is currently fourth in conference in slugging percentage (.746), third in home runs (7) and tied for fifth in runs scored (23).

Bennett is batting .356 and tied for 10th in the MW in hits (26) and ranks sixth for doubles (6). This is her first All-MW team selection.

Hutchins was named to the All-MW first-team in 2021. The junior is batting .344 with 21 RBI, 20 runs, four doubles and five home runs.

Huchingson was named to an All-MW team for the first time in her collegiate career. The redshirt senior is sixth in putouts (118) and tied for first in runs scored (25) and second in walks (18).

The Broncos ended the 2023 regular season with a 31-15, 16-5 MW record, earning the MW regular season title. They will head to San Diego, Calif., where they will compete as the top seed in the MW Softball Championship, May 11-13.

Players Mentioned

Autumn Bennett

Taylor Caudill

Eliyah Flores

Kelsey Hall

Serena Huchingson

Jordyn Hutchins

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