On Wednesday, LSU softball’s Ciara Briggs was announced as the recipient of the Rawlings Gold Glove Award for the centerfielder position in 2022. The award was created by the Rawlings Sporting Goods Company, Inc., who decided to begin including Division I softball athletes after celebrating defensive excellence in baseball for sixty-five years.
The honor makes Briggs the first-ever softball centerfielder to win the award.
“She’s mechanically the best outfielder in the SEC,” ESPN analyst and former Alabama softball player Kayla Braud spoke on the TV broadcast last month. “[And] maybe even in the country.”
Within 57 collegiate career starts, the California native finished the season with a perfect fielding percentage after she registered 82 putouts and seven assists in only 89 chances. Briggs is currently in a three-way tie for the most assists by an outfielder in program history. At the plate, the sophomore boasted a .368 batting average behind 70 hits, 32 RBI and had a team-high 53 runs scored.
Briggs is the first LSU softball player to receive the award in the collegiate system. LSU alumna A.J. Andrews is the first in program history after her career performance as an Akron Racer in 2016. 
Out of the nine award winners, four of the female athletes belong to the SEC (including Briggs). LSU and Florida State are the only college programs to not only win a gold glove award in college softball and baseball, but in professional softball and professional baseball as well.