General 4/22/2020 11:34:00 AM Ryan Shumaker
Leger of Softball and Richards of Football Named Freshman Athletes of the Year

Eastern New Mexico freshman Brook Leger and Mazin Richards have been selected as the Freshman Male and Female Athletes of the Year as voted upon by athletic department staff members and head coaches.

Each student-athlete was nominated by their respective head coach for consideration for the award based upon their outstanding athletic performances during the 2019-20 season. Both Leger and Richards proved to be valuable contributors in their first season’s competing at the collegiate level and put forth their best efforts in key wins for their respective teams.

Leger was a key member of a revitalized pitching staff for the Greyhound softball program and finished the season with a record of 4-1. Her four wins led the team alongside 36 strikeouts in just 30.0 innings of work in her seven appearances.

Those 36 strikeouts ranked 16th in the Lone Star Conference as the Albuquerque, N.M. native proved to be one of the league’s top young pitchers throughout the year. Leger recorded a win in four out of her five starts for the season and finished the year with a 4.20 ERA.

Her best performance came in the Hound’s 7-5 extra-innings win over Colorado Mesa during which time she threw all eight innings and struck-out 11 batters while surrendering just three earned runs. Those 11 strikeouts match the fifth most ever recorded in a single game by an Eastern New Mexico pitcher.

Richards established himself as a premier edge rusher in the LSC in his first season as a Greyhound, leading the league with 12.5 sacks on the year. Those 12.5 sacks were the seventh most recorded by any player across the nation in Division II and earned Richards an All-Super Region Four Third Team selection.

The Burleson, Texas native was an All-LSC Second Team selection and was tabbed the LSC Defensive Player of the Week for his efforts in the Hound’s 20-17 overtime win over #21 Angelo State. Richards recorded four multi-sack efforts throughout the season and finished the year with 14.5 tackles for a loss.

He totaled 2.5 sacks in that upset win for the Hounds over Angelo State two weeks removed from a season-high 3.5 sack performance against West Texas A&M. Richards finished his 2019 campaign with 2.5 sacks against Southern Arkansas in the Hound’s 20-13 win in the 2019 Heritage Bowl.