Angela Locsin-Avants set seven school records at Pace
University
Even with seven school records to her credit, Angela Locsin-Avants still got a kick out of the call she received from Pace University athletic director Joseph O’Donnell earlier this year.
“My former coach (Claudia Stablic) actually spilled the beans,” Locsin-Avants said. “I thought she was joking.”
The hint wasn’t convincing enough, and the news didn’t fully sink in for Locsin-Avants.
But O’Donnell confirmed what she had yet to accept: She was part of the Class of 2010 to be inducted into the Pace University Athletic Hall of Fame.
The Gilroy resident was welcomed to the 32-member Hall of Fame, which was established in 1997, at a ceremony this summer.
“I was shocked,” she said. “I didn’t think it would be so soon. I knew that I had accomplished a lot, but I wasn’t expecting it by any means.”
Locsin-Avants was one of those players who had success everywhere she went. A four-year varsity starting pitcher, the San Martin native was part of two Central Coast Section championship teams with Notre Dame-Salinas as a freshman and sophomore.
Locsin-Avants transferred to Live Oak her junior year and helped the Acorns to a CCS title her senior season in 2001. Locsin-Avants moved from South Valley to New York and suited up for Pace from 2002-05, shattering school records in the process.
“I’m very honored and proud to be a part of the school’s history,” she said. “My face is on the wall there now, and that’s awesome.”
Anchoring the pitching staff for the NCAA Division II Setters, Locsin-Avants set the university career marks in innings pitched (768), wins (78), strikeouts (480), complete games (91), shut outs (28) and saves (nine).
At the plate, Locsin-Avants wasn’t kind to opposing hurlers, hammering 22 home runs in her four-year stint – another record.
“People always ask me if I gave up that many. No, no, I hit those,” Locsin-Avants laughed.
In 2004, Locsin-Avants became the first softball player in Northeast-10 Conference history to be selected as both player and pitcher of the year.
“That’s always been my biggest achievement,” she said.
The laundry list of statistics are impressive, but Locsin-Avants said those individual accomplishments would have been a lot harder to attain if it weren’t for her teammates.
“Without those key players, like Jackie Burd and Tess Bair, I would not have accomplished what I did,” she added. “Without your defense, (as a pitcher) you are nothing.”
After a year away from organized softball, Locsin-Avants joined Team Germany in the International Softball Federation where she was able to spread her knowledge of the game.
“It was awesome. I got to travel all over Europe playing softball and got paid doing it,” she said. “Although, I spent all my money traveling, but it was worth it.”
Locsin-Avants lives in Gilroy with her husband of three years and nearly 1-year-old son.
She is the assistant coach/pitching coach for the Gavilan College softball team.
