Softball's Kelsey Bruder & Baseball's Mike Zunino Named 2011 Ben Hill Griffin Award Winners
Monday, January 23, 2012 | Baseball
This year's Ben Hill Griffin Awards stayed on the softball and baseball diamonds, respectively, as 2011 softball senior outfielder Kelsey Bruder (Corona, Calif.) and current junior baseball catcher Mike Zunino (Cape Coral, Fla.) will be honored as recipients of the 2011 Ben Hill Griffin Award.
Established by Gator Boosters, Inc., and the University of Florida Athletic Association, the award honors the top male and female student-athletes at the University of Florida and is named after Ben Hill Griffin and his family, who have been long-time avid supporters and fans of Gator athletics. The Ben Hill Griffin award is based primarily on athletic achievement; academic achievement and extra-curricular involvement are also considered.
Bruder and Zunino each led their respective teams to the 2011 NCAA College World Series, where the Gator softball and baseball teams both played for a national championship last season, each finishing as the national runner-up. For just the second time in history, one institution – last year being Florida – had both its baseball and softball teams in the Championship Series of the CWS.
Bruder and Zunino were each named the SEC Player of the Year for their respective sports last season, just two of UF's 12 Conference Athletes of the Year through the 2010-11 academic year. Bruder becomes the second softball player to earn the Ben Hill Griffin Award after Stacey Nelson was awarded in 2009, while Zunino is the third baseball student-athlete, following David Eckstein (1997) and Brad Wilkerson (1998).
Bruder, now an assistant softball coach at Murray State University, was most recently honored Jan. 13 as a 2012 NCAA Today's Top VIII Award recipient. Given annually to just eight NCAA student-athletes, Bruder represented the University of Florida at the 2012 NCAA Convention Honors Celebration in Indianapolis, Ind., after becoming the sixth Gator recipient of the prestigious national award. The 2011 SEC Player of the Year, she additionally picked up the 2011 Honda Sports Award for softball, designating her as the nation's top collegiate female athlete in the sport.
A December 2011 UF graduate with a GPA of 3.7 and a bachelor's degree in Heath, Education and Behavior, Bruder led the Gators to the 2011 NCAA Women's College World Series in Oklahoma City, Okla., where they played for their second national championship in the last three years, marking the team's fourth-straight WCWS appearance – the first SEC team to accomplish the feat. Named to the 2011 WCWS All-Tournament Team, Bruder is a two-time All-American and Academic All-American.
A member of the “winningest class” in University of Florida history, Bruder led the Southeastern Conference in 2011 through league play in runs (32), doubles (10), slugging percentage (.883), hits (40), runs batted in (36) and home runs (11). She tops Florida's all-time list for total bases in a season (152) and her 79 runs last spring marked a single-season school record. Bruder was also a part of the NCAA-record 70 wins her freshman year in 2008, two SEC Championship titles in 2008 and 2009 and was a part of just 33 losses in her four-year tenure at Florida.
A two-time 2011 USA Softball National Collegiate Player of the Week, Bruder was the fifth overall pick in the 2011 National Pro Fastpitch Senior Draft by the USSSA Florida Pride and has continued her career professionally.
Just as Bruder had a tremendous impact on the Gator softball team's success last season, Zunino's contributions to the Florida baseball team helped Florida to a school-record 53 victories and a runner-up finish at the 2011 NCAA College World Series in Omaha, Neb.
Zunino and the Gators claimed their second-straight SEC Championship that was shared with South Carolina and Vanderbilt, brought home their third SEC Eastern Division crown in a row and captured the program's first SEC Tournament title since 1991. Florida earned the program's seventh CWS berth, its first time in school history advancing to Omaha in consecutive seasons, after cruising to its third-straight NCAA Gainesville Regional title and emerging victorious at the NCAA Gainesville Super Regional for the second-straight campaign.
Named to the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team, Zunino chalked up numerous honors during his sophomore season as a Johnny Bench Award finalist and both a Golden Spikes Award and Dick Howser Trophy semifinalist. After earning first-team All-South Region honors, Zunino was tabbed a first-team All-America pick by the ABCA, Baseball America and Perfect Game, while also picking up Louisville Slugger second-team and NCBWA third -team All-America honors.
Like Bruder, Zunino was tabbed the 2011 SEC Player of the Year – just the second Gator baseball player to win the award – and was the first-team All-SEC catcher, becoming the first Gator catcher to be a first-team league selection in 20 years. Zunino additionally picked up SEC All-Defensive team accolades, was a NCAA Gainesville Regional All-Tournament Team selection and was twice named the SEC Player of the Week and to the National All-Star Lineup last season.
Zunino led Florida in numerous offensive categories and was among the SEC leaders in batting average (.371, 4th), slugging percentage (.674, 2nd), on-base percentage (.442, 9th), runs scored (75, 1st), hits (98, 1st), runs batted in (67, 2nd), doubles (T-1st, 23), home runs (19, 1st) and total bases (178, 1st).
Off the field, both Bruder and Zunino have contributed to the Gainesville community and beyond, assisting with the annual Climb for Cancer event, coupled with visits to the Shands Hospital pediatric care unit and to local elementary schools to mentor local Gainesville community children. Both UF's softball and baseball teams are involved with the Friends of Jaclyn organization, as both teams have adopted 'teammates.' Friends of Jaclyn matches children who have brain tumors with high school and college athletic teams to provide support for the child and spread awareness of brain tumors throughout the community. Softball welcomed Heather Braswell to the squad in the fall of 2009, while baseball added Nick Gehlman in 2010 to mentor through the Friends of Jaclyn mission.
Bruder and Zunino will be honored with the Ben Hill Griffin Award at the Hall of Fame Banquet on Friday, April 6, 2012, in the Holloway Touchdown Terrace at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Please contact Gator Boosters at (352) 375-4683, ext. 5015 for information on attending the banquet.
