Much like her uncle, Maya Brady took home some hardware on Wednesday, as the Pac-12 Conference awarded the UCLA Bruins softball star with the Conference Player of the Year award.
UCLA softball tweeted, “CROWN HER! @BradyMaya is the 2023 Pac-12 Player of the Year!”
𝐂𝐑𝐎𝐖𝐍 𝐇𝐄𝐑 👑@BradyMaya is the 2023 Pac-12 Player of the Year!
ℹ️: https://t.co/31Md9cwsQF #GoBruins pic.twitter.com/vOdV9663Gt
— UCLA Softball (@UCLASoftball) May 10, 2023
The junior shortstop earned the award with a spectacular season at the plate. Brady slashed .456/.519/.873, good for a career-high OPS of 1.392. She hit a career-best 16 home runs and 55 RBI with 12 doubles and a career-high three triples. This comes after three seasons spent in the UCLA outfield, so her bat made the trip to the infield this past season.
Maya is the niece of legendary retired NFL quarterback Tom Brady. Brady has praised his niece in the past publicly and has attended her UCLA softball games as well.
Maya Brady earning the POY award also meant that the Bruins swept the softball awards this season in the Pac-12. Megan Faraimo won Pitcher of the Year, Jordan Wollery won Freshman of the Year, and Kelly Inouye-Perez won Coach of the Year.
The softball world reacted to the huge Maya Brady news.
Thuc Nhi Nguyen of the LA Times said, “Crown her again.”
Crown her again
She already won the conference batting championship, now Maya Brady wins @UCLASoftball's first Pac-12 player of the year award since Rachel Garcia in 2018-21. On how she took on a leading role for the Bruins: https://t.co/1gpciRBvNu
— Thuc Nhi Nguyen (@thucnhi21) May 10, 2023
“How does greatness just run in the family?” AJ King asked.
Nah, how does greatness just run in the family?? lmao https://t.co/pAPfsNjAP8
— AJ King (@allday_ajking) May 10, 2023
UCLA Athletics issued a well-deserved congratulations.
Congrats, @BradyMaya! 🙌 https://t.co/4fklQT193W
— UCLA Athletics (@UCLAAthletics) May 10, 2023
As did UCLA Compliance.
Congrats @BradyMaya !!! https://t.co/7OLG8665QP
— UCLA Compliance (@UCLACompliance) May 10, 2023
Maya Brady and the UCLA Bruins hope to take home the Pac-12 Softball Tournament trophy this week.
