The two sisters, daughters of Tinna and Reynol Mendoza, have been playing together at the University of Texas-Arlington for the past season and have been collecting accolades and achievements by the bucket load as Sandra has put up serious numbers over her tenure at the university as one of the premier hitters in the conference.
In order to be eligible for this honor, student athletes must have a 3.5 Grade Point Average or better. Teammates Shelbi Sikes, Cailin Sims, Marissa Datko, Bri Burchianti, Kayci Moore, Laura Curry, Krista Rude, Whitney Watson and Carly Ruffing have also been honored this season.
"We both work hard on and off the field, we both have the same goals and we both strive for the same thing, which is to be successful and have fun in life. I love playing with my sister,” said Sandra. “She's always been my best friend. Knowing that she is here and working just as hard as I am with the same goals as I have, it makes it easier for the both of us."
Her sophomore year, Sandra led the Sun Belt Conference in hitting with an incredible .461 batting average. The Sun Belt Batting Champ was tenth in the entire nation in hitting that year before being named 1st Team All- Conference. She also set the single season record in hits with 76 while starting all 46 games at second base and recording a .981 fielding average.
Last season she started off the year on the 2017 USA Softball Collegiate Player of The Year Watch List, was a FastPitch News.com First-Team Pre-Season All-American, and even led the Sun Belt Conference with 140 assists to help the Mavericks set a program record in double plays turned, and led the league with 31.
Not only are the Mendoza girls getting it done in the classroom, they are also producing on the diamond.
Their coach also shared what a joy it was having the girls on the team.
“Sandra has been such a blessing for us as a ball player and as a person," said UTA Softball Coach Kristie Fox. “When the opportunity came to recruit Melanie later on in the process, we jumped on the opportunity."
This is Sandra's senior season and Melanie is getting ready to put up numbers herself in her second year at UTA.