Top Three Finalists for USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Announced

Wed May 20 14:44:35 EDT 2009

Received: 5/20/09 1:44:33 PM 
From:  "Holly Krivokapich" <hollyk(at)softball.org> 

Subject:  Top Three Finalists for USA Softball Collegiate Player
of the Year Announced  

For Immediate Release:5/20/2009

Top ThreeFinalists for USA Softball Collegiate Player of the
Year Announced

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla.– The Amateur Softball Association of America
(ASA), is pleased torelease its Top Three Finalists for the 2009
USASoftball Collegiate Player of the Year, which will be announced
onTues., May 26  at the NCAA Women’s College World Series Party
at the Park at ASA Hall of Fame Complex in Oklahoma City, Okla..
The huntfor the Player of the Year started with a Top 50 Watch
list and has beennarrowed down to three; Arizona State’s Kaitlin
Cochran, Washington’s DanielleLawrie and Florida’s Stacey Nelson.

Thebios of the Top Three Finalists are as follows: 

Kaitlin Cochran – Arizona State – Senior – Yorba Linda, Calif.

Kaitlin Cochran thus far in this season and throughout her career
has ledthe nation in nearly every offensive category at one point
in the season. ThePac-10 Player of Year still holds the nation’s
leading on-base percentage andranks top 10 in batting average,
slugging percentage, home runs, home runs pergame and is ranked
in RBI per game. She has broken every ASU offensive careerand
single-season record and now continues to climb up the Pac-10
and NCAArecord books in hits, doubles, home runs, slugging percentage,
on basepercentage, walks and intentional walks. Cochran is hitting
.424 on the seasonwith 65 runs scored. She has drawn an incredible
59 walks with 59 RBI. InPac-10 play, she has still hit an impressive
.404 with 17 RBI and a sluggingpercentage of 0.915. Cochran earned
the Pac-10 Player of the Week on March 31as well as earned first-time
honors. 

Danielle Lawrie – Washington – Senior – Langley, British Columbia

ThePac-10 leader in wins, ERA, strikeouts and shutouts, Lawrie
is also among thenation’s top three in all four categories. She
has thrown two no-hitters thisseason, against UCLA and Arizona
to become the first pitcher in NCAA history tono-hit both in
a career, let alone a season. She set a school record in theNCAA
Regional Championship deciding game against No. 20 UMass, striking
out 24batters in a 6-1, 15-inning win. She is the third pitcher
in Pac-10 historywith 24+ strikeouts in a game. It was her 25th
double-digit strikeout game ofthe season. She has also had two
18 strikeout games, one in seven inningsagainst Oregon and another
in 11 innings against Fresno State and has 18shutouts, 12 of
which have come against ranked teams. Among the team’s she hasshutout:
No. 1 Florida, No. 2 UCLA, No. 4 Alabama, No. 5 Stanford, No.
6Arizona, No. 7 Michigan, No. 8 Georgia and No. 11 Ohio State.
Lawrie has 454strikeouts this season, three shy of breaking her
own school record.She has gone over the 1,000 career K mark and
the 1,200 career K mark thisseason and now has 1,298, fifth in
Pac-10 history and 15th in NCAA historyalong with four one-hitters
and 10 two-hitters. She has won a Pac-10 record sixPitcher of
the Week awards as well as been named the NFCA and USA SoftballNational
Player of the Week. Lawrie had a streak of 64.1 consecutive scorelessinnings
earlier in the season and 90.0 consecutive innings without allowing
anearned run. She broke UW’s career strikeout record early in
the season and alsobroke the single-season UW strikeout record.
She also broke UW’s single-seasonshutout record with 18. Her
35 wins are also one shy of the school record.

StaceyNelson – Florida – Senior – Los Alamitos, Calif. 
Seniorpitcher Stacey Nelson continues to move up the NCAA record
book, as she hastallied 131 wins in her career, seventh-best
all time.  She is second inSoutheastern Conference history, only
behind Tennessee's Monica Abbott (189).This season, her 37-3
(.925) record one of the best in the nation and her ERA(0.43)
leads the country.   She is the first Gator to tally 1,000career
strikeouts and sits in sixth in the SEC with 1,061.  She holds
19single-season and career pitching records at Florida, including
single-seasonshutouts (19, 2009) and career ERA (0.97).  She
has pitched two no-hittersin her career, both coming in her senior
year against SEC opponents.  In2008, she recorded a career-high
16 strikeouts in a 10-inning contest againstLong Beach State.
 This season, she tallied a season-high 14 Ks in theregional
win over Texas A&M in just seven innings.  For two years in arow,
Nelson has earned the SEC Pitcher of the Year award (2008, 09),
first-teamAll-SEC accolades (2008, 09) and SEC All-Defensive
team honors (2008, 09). Shewas named Pitcher of the Week three
times, tying for the most thisseason.   

Thisaward, which is considered the most prestigious honors in
Division I women'scollegiate softball, is designed to recognize
outstanding athletic achievementby female collegiate softball
players across the country. Past winners of thisaward include
UCLA's Stacey Nuveman, Florida State's Jessica Van der Linden,three-time
winner Texas pitcher Cat Osterman, Tennessee's Monica Abbott
andVirginia Tech's Angela Tincher. 

 AboutASA 

TheAmateur Softball Association, founded in 1933, is the National
Governing Bodyof softball in the United States and a member of
the United States OlympicCommittee. The ASA has become one of
the nation’s largest sports organizationsand now sanctions competition
in every state through a network of 83 localassociations. The
ASA has grown from a few hundred teams in the early days toover
240,000 teams today, representing a membership of more than three
million.For more information on the ASA, visit http://www.asasoftball.com/.

About USA Softball 

USASoftball is the brand created, operated and owned by the ASA
that links the USAMen’s, Women’s, Junior Boys’ and Junior Girls’
National Team programs together.USA Softball is responsible for
training, equipping and promoting these fourNational Teams to
compete in international and domestic competitions. The USASoftball
Women’s National Team is one of the only two women’s sports involvedin
the Olympic movement to capture three consecutive gold medals
at the OlympicGames since 1996. The U.S. women have also won
eight World Championship titlesincluding the last six consecutive
as well as claimed two World Cup of Softballtitles. For more
information about USA Softball, please visithttp://www.usasoftball.com/.

HollyKrivokapich

AssistantDirector of Marketing and Communications
ASA/USA Softball

405-425-3431
www.asasoftball.com

www.usasoftball.com

 Al's Fastball News
*Email: fastball(at)pmihrm.com
   fastball at pmihrm.com
NEWS-1: http://www.AlsFastball.com/
NEWS-2: http://fastpitchwest.com/alsfastball

VIA http://www.webbox.com