Pair of Canadians among Top 3 NCAA Softball Player of the Year Finalists

[Al's Fastball News]

2010 NCAA Player of the Year Finalists

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
May 27th, 2010 

Pair of Canadians among Top 3 NCAA Softball Player of the Year
Finalists 

(Ottawa, ON) The Amateur Softball Association (ASA) of America
has announced the Top 3 Finalists for the 9th Annual USA Softball
National Collegiate Player of the Year Award. This award, which
is considered the most prestigious honour in Division I women's
collegiate softball, is designed to recognize outstanding athletic
achievement by female collegiate softball players across the
country. In 2009, Canadian pitcher Danielle Lawrie (Langley,
BC) won the award and subsequently led the University of Washington
Huskies to the Women's College World Series title. 

The three finalists for this year's award include a pair of Canadian
Senior Women's National Team members, Washington's Danielle Lawrie
and Georgia Tech's Jen Yee (North Delta, BC). Joining them among
the Top 3 finalists is UCLA's Megan Langenfeld. The winner of
the 2010 USA Softball National Collegiate Player of the Year
will be named on Tuesday, June 1st at the Opening Ceremonies
of the Women's College World Series in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.


Lawrie looks to repeat as Player of the Year after winning the
award last year, and would be only the second student-athlete
in the history of the award to do so. The senior from Langley,
British Columbia is a First Team All-Pacific Region, First Team
All-Pac-10 and Pac-10 Pitcher of the Year. She was named the
Pac-10 Pitcher of the Week a record eight times this season and
also earned USA Softball Player of the Week three times (a single-season
record) and the NFCA National Player of the Week twice. Lawrie
is 38-1 on the season with a 0.94 ERA, 446 strikeouts and just
34 walks in 269.1 innings. She also leads the Huskies in home
runs (15), RBI (57) and slugging percentage (.627), all of which
are career highs. She holds a nation-best 22 shutouts to break
her own single-season school record. Lawrie is 19-2 against ranked
teams this year with 234 Ks in 143.1 innings. She has thrown
three perfect games this season. 

Jen Yee makes her first appearance in the Top 3 after being named
the 2010 ACC Player of the Year. The senior from Georgia Tech
was a First-Team NFCA All-Southeast Region and First-Team All-ACC.
She reached base safely at least once in all 62 games this season
and leads the nation in batting average (.568), slugging percentage
(1.270), on-base percentage (.732), runs scored (93) and walks
(88). She is also tied for the lead nationally with 29 home runs.
Yee struck out just six times all season and was 21-for-22 in
stolen base attempts, good for fourth in the ACC. Her 84 hits
and 63 RBI led the league while her 15 doubles ranked third.
She was a two-time Louisville Slugger/NFCA National Player of
the Week and five-time ACC Player of the Week. Yee was intentionally
walked 31 times this year which is an NCAA single-season record.


Langenfeld (Bakersfield, California) was named PAC-10 Conference
Player of the Year, First-Team NFCA All-West Region and First-Team
All-Pac-10. She enters Super Regional play leading the Bruins
with a .500 batting average, 49 runs batted in, a 1.037 slugging
percentage, 38 walks and a .650 on base percentage. She is also
tied for first on her team with 16 home runs and second with
40 runs scored. In the circle, Langenfeld is 10-1 with three
saves, a 1.29 earned run average and 56 strikeouts in 87 innings.
The senior was named Pac-10 and USA Softball National Player
of the Week on April 27 after recording four homers and eight
RBI in a three-game sweep at Stanford. Langenfeld has 18 multiple-hit
games and 14 multiple-RBI contests on the season. The senior
came into the postseason ranked in the Top 20 nationally in six
offensive categories. In the circle, Langenfeld was a perfect
6-0 in Pac-10 play with two saves, posting a 1.43 ERA and 24
strikeouts in 44 innings. Among her victories were a pair of
wins in the last weekend of the regular season at Arizona. 

(Written based on the article by the Amateur Softball Association
of America) 

-SC- 

For more information, please contact: 
Gilles LeBlanc 
Manager - Marketing and Communications 
Softball Canada 
(613) 523-3386 x3105 
gleblanc(at)softball.ca 

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