Gabby Banda Season 2010

Career Honors & Awards

• Big Ten All-Defensive Team (2013)
• Third-Team All-Big Ten (2012)
• Academic All-Big Ten (2012, 2013)
• Nebraska Record Holder for Walks in a Game (4)
• Nebraska Record Holder for Walks in a Season (41 in 2013)
• Big 12 Commissioner's Spring Honor Roll (2010)
• Three-Time Nebraska Scholar-Athlete Honor Roll
• Tom Osborne Citizenship Team (2014)

Career Capsule
Gabby Banda was a four-year starter for Nebraska on the left side of the Husker infield. She started at third base three years and at shortstop for her sophomore season. Banda made 226 starts in her career, including starting each the final 196 games of her career.

Banda played her final two seasons - and perhaps her entire career - with a torn ACL. Despite the injury, Banda was an All-Big Ten selection as a junior and was one of the league's top defenders as a senior. She established a school record with 41 walks as a senior, while ranking in a tie for fifth with nine hit-by-pitches.

Banda ended her career ranked sixth in school history in walks (96), seventh in sacrifices (34), eighth in runs scored (128) and 10th in doubles (35). She posted a .281 career batting average with 176 hits, eight homers and 76 RBIs. Banda ended her career hitting safely in each of her final 13 games, including both of Nebraska's games at the 2013 Women's College World Series.

Senior Season [2013]
Banda put the team ahead of herself in her senior season, helping the Huskers to the first NCAA Super Regional appearance in school history and the program’s seventh all-time trip to the Women’s College World Series. One season after she led NU with 62 hits, 14 doubles and a .352 average, Banda put her personal statistics to the side and set her sights on reaching base in front of two of the nation’s top 30 active career RBI producers. Banda started all 61 games at third base, batting second in the lineup in all 61 games.

She posted a solid .287 average and set a school-record with 41 walks, eclipsing the previous record of 40, set by three players, all of whom were All-Americans in the season in which they set or tied the record. Banda was also hit by nine pitches - the fifth-highest total in school history - becoming the first Husker to post 50 combined free passes in a season. The free bases helped Banda post a career-best .448 on-base percentage, a .046 improvement from her junior season. By getting on base, Banda helped Nebraska score the third-most runs in school history. Taylor Edwards and Brooke Thomason – the two hitters behind Banda in the lineup – benefited from Banda’s patience, as each drove in more than 50 runs, becoming just the second teammates in school history to each produce a 50-RBI season.

Banda also led Nebraska with 13 sacrifice bunts. Despite a team-first approach at the plate, Banda still managed to drive in 20 runs, and she also ranked second on the team with a career-high 43 runs scored and was third with six stolen bases. Among all Big Ten hitters, Banda ranked fourth in walks and tied for 10th in hit-by-pitches. She also ranked in a tie for 24th nationally with her 41 walks.

As good as she was as getting on base, Banda’s bat was needed down the stretch, and she delivered to lead Nebraska back to Oklahoma City. Banda ended her career on a 13-game hitting streak - the longest streak by a Husker in four seasons – while hitting .357 in the NCAA Tournament. Earlier in the year, Banda also enjoyed success. She produced three consecutive multi-hit games in early March, including a season-high three hits and three RBIs in game two of a doubleheader at Wichita State. At No. 1 Oklahoma on March 2, Banda went 1-for-1 with an RBI, a run scored, a walk and two hit-by-pitches. The month before, she scored nine runs in five games at Nebraska’s season-opening tournament, including a pair of games with three runs scored. Banda also drew multiple walks in 11 contests.

Defensively, Banda took her game to another level in the second half of the season. The third baseman on the Big Ten All-Defensive Team, Banda played a large role in Nebraska turning a nation-leading and school-record 49 double plays. She posted a .934 fielding percentage but did not commit an error over her final 16 games. During Big Ten play, Banda committed only two errors in 22 games, posting a .975 fielding percentage.

Junior Season [2012]
Banda earned third-team All-Big Ten honors while enjoying a breakout junior season. Banda was one of three players to start every game in 2012, earning 55 starts. She began the year at shortstop, starting the first six games at the position, before starting the final 49 games at third base. At the plate, Banda posted career highs in nearly every category as a junior, including matching her home run total from her first two seasons combined, posting more RBIs than her career total entering the year and recording a batting average .119 higher than her career average.

After entering her junior season with a .233 career average, 65 hits, 16 doubles, four home runs and 26 RBIs, Banda hit .352 in 2012 with 62 hits, 14 doubles, four home runs and 30 RBIs. She led Nebraska in batting average, hits and doubles, while ranking second in runs scored (39) and slugging percentage (.511). In conference play, Banda batted .377 with seven doubles, one home run and eight RBIs. Banda led all Big Ten third basemen with 29 hits in conference play, while ranking second in doubles and third in average. Her three errors were also the fewest of any everyday third baseman.

Banda moved up to the No. 2 spot in the lineup as a junior, hitting second in 46 games after primarily being a bottom-of-the-order hitter in her first two seasons. She responded to the move by posting the 11th-best batting average in the Big Ten Conference, while ranking fifth in the conference in doubles and among the top 10 players in hits, sacrifice bunts, total bases and runs scored. Banda’s 14 doubles also tied for the sixth-highest single-season total in school history and the third-best mark by a Husker junior.

Banda’s breakout season began on the second day of the year when she finished with four hits and seven RBIs in a pair of games against No. 8 Arizona and Idaho State. She fueled the largest comeback in school history in the Huskers’ 11-10 upset of Arizona, hitting a fourth-inning grand slam that cut the Wildcats’ lead to 6-5. She then added her first career three-hit game against ISU that same day, before tying a school record with four walks against Georgia Tech on the fourth day of the season.

After having no three-hit games in her first two seasons combined, Banda finished her junior year with a team-high eight three-hit games. Overall, Banda produced career-high totals of 20 multi-hit games and eight multi-RBI contests.

Off the field, Banda earned a spot on the academic All-Big Ten team. She joined classmate Brooke Thomason as the only Huskers to earn all-conference honors on the field and in the classroom in 2012.

Sophomore Season [2011]
Banda moved from third base to shortstop in her sophomore season and started all 55 games at the position. She batted left-handed the first two weeks of the season, before switching back to the right-handed batter’s box for the remainder of the year and producing a solid offensive season. After hitting just .207 while batting left-handed in the first 11 games, Banda finished 2011 with a .274 average, a mark that was .080 higher than her freshman season.

Banda led the Huskers with 10 doubles, while producing more extra-base hits and a higher slugging percentage than she did as a freshman. Banda also continued to show good plate awareness, drawing 17 walks and getting hit by nine pitches to post a .391 on-base percentage. The nine hit-by-pitches tied for the team lead and ranked fourth in Husker history. Banda also ranked second on the team with eight sacrifices, while stealing six bases and scoring 26 times.

Banda batted .301 in the Huskers’ 37 non-conference games, including going 3-for-11 with a pair of doubles in Nebraska’s four NCAA Tournament games. In conference play, Banda produced Nebraska’s fourth-highest batting average while tying for the team lead in doubles. She also tied her career high with a five-game hitting streak during the season, while finishing with six multi-hit games and four multi-RBI efforts.

Defensively, Banda posted a .906 fielding percentage in her first year at short. She improved as the season progressed, committing only three errors over the final 25 games.

Freshman Season [2010]
Banda won a starting spot at third base as a freshman while starting 55 total games. Banda beat out a pair of players with starting experience at third and earned 54 starts at the position, the second-most starts at one position of any Husker during the season. Banda finished with a .194 average, but showed a good awareness of the strike zone as she continued to develop her offensive potential.

Banda ranked second on the team with 23 walks, the fourth-highest total by a Husker freshman in the Big 12 era (1996-2011). In conference play, Banda walked a team-high seven times as she became only the third freshman to lead Nebraska in walks during a Big 12 season.

Banda also showed power at the plate, finishing with six doubles, one triple and three home runs. She produced 10 extra-base hits, becoming only the fifth Husker freshman in the last decade to reach that mark. More than one-third of Banda’s hits went for extra bases, while she added 16 RBIs and also displayed solid speed by scoring 20 runs and stealing six bases in seven attempts.

Defensively, Banda improved throughout the season and emerged as a solid defender at third. After committing nine errors prior to Big 12 play, Banda committed only two errors during the Huskers’ 18-game league schedule. Overall, Banda ended her season on a career-best 20-game errorless streak.

Before Nebraska
Banda was the first Texas native to sign with Nebraska out of high school in Head Coach Rhonda Revelle’s first 18 seasons. Banda played for Angleton High School, where she not only excelled on the softball diamond, but on the basketball court as well.

In her senior season at Angleton, Banda hit a team-high .412 while slugging a team-best .588 to lead the Wildcats to a 31-8-1 record. Banda added 10 doubles, five triples, 23 RBIs and 46 runs scored. She scored the winning run in the ninth inning of the state semifinals to send Angleton to the title game, where the Wildcats fell 4-2 to New Braunfels in the Texas 4A championship game. For her efforts during her senior year, Banda was named a third-team all-state selection by the Texas Sports Writers Association.

Banda was also a four-time All-Brazoria County selection and earned first-team all-county honors in 2006, and she was a two-time all-district first-team selection. Banda was named the Brazoria County newcomer of the year in both softball and basketball for the 2005-06 season.

On the basketball court, Banda was a two-time all-county selection and two-time all-district pick. In the summer, Banda played softball for the Texas Sudden Impact Gold. She helped Sudden Impact to a third-place finish at the Under-12 nationals in 2004 and a 25th-place finish at the ASA Gold National Championship in 2008.

Personal
Gabriela Banda is the daughter of Daniel and Sally Alcocer and was born on June 21, 1991, in Casa Grande, Ariz. Gabby has three brothers, Robert, Zenon and Adrian. Gabby earned her degree in child, youth and family studies.

Year	Avg.	GP-GS	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	OB%	SLG%	SB-ATT	FLD%
2010	.194	56-55	144	20	28	6	1	3	16	23	30	.316	.313	6-7	.930
2011	.274	55-55	135	26	37	10	0	1	10	17	28	.391	.370	6-8	.906
2012	.352	55-55	176	39	62	14	1	4	30	15	24	.402	.511	3-4	.919
2013	.287	61-61	171	43	49	5	0	0	20	41	20	.448	.316	6-9	.934
Total	.281	227-226	626	128	176	35	2	8	76	96	102	.394	.382	21-28	.924