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 Womens 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 States Kaitlin Cochran, Washingtons DanielleLawrie and Floridas 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 nations 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 thenations 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 teams 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 UWs career strikeout record early in the season and alsobroke the single-season UW strikeout record. She also broke UWs 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 nations 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 USAMens, Womens, 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 Womens National Team is one of the only two womens 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 fastb...@pmihrm.com NEWS-1: http://www.AlsFastball.com/ NEWS-2: http://fastpitchwest.com/alsfastball VIA http://www.webbox.com
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