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Press Services
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. – The Amateur Softball Association
of America (ASA), the National Governing Body of Softball in the United States,
announced today the selection of Washington’s Danielle Lawrie (Langley,
British Columbia) as the recipient of the 8th Annual USA Softball National
Collegiate Player of the Year Award.
The Pac-10 leader in wins, ERA,
strikeouts and shutouts, Washington’s Lawrie is also among the
nation’s top three in all four categories.
The junior from Langley, British
Columbia, is the third pitcher in Pac-10 history with 24+ strikeouts in a
game. Lawrie has thrown two no-hitters this season, against UCLA and Arizona
to become the first pitcher in NCAA history to no-hit both in a career, let
alone a season. She set a school record in the NCAA Regional Championship
deciding game against No. 20 UMass, striking out 24 batters in a 6-1, 15-inning
win. It was her 25th double-digit strikeout game of the season.
She has also had two 18 strikeout
games, one in seven innings against Oregon and another in 11 innings against
Fresno State and has 18 shutouts, 12 of which have come against ranked teams.
Among the team’s she has shutout and their ranking at the time: No.
1 Florida, No. 2 UCLA, No. 4 Alabama, No. 5 Stanford, No. 6 Arizona, No.
7 Michigan, No. 8 Georgia and No. 11 Ohio State.
Last weekend, Lawrie broke her own
school record for strikeouts in a season with 472 and she also set school
records for wins in a season with 37 and shutouts with 19. She has gone over
the 1,300 career strikeout mark this season and now has 1,316, fifth in Pac-10
history and 15th in NCAA history. Lawrie has won a Pac-10 record six Pitcher
of the Week awards and has also been named the NFCA and USA Softball National
Player of the Week. Lawrie had a streak of 64.1 consecutive scoreless innings
earlier in the season and 90.0 consecutive innings without allowing an earned
run. She broke UW’s career strikeout record early in the season and
also broke the single-season UW strikeout record.
While dominating from the circle,
Lawrie also contributed at the plate this season for the Huskies. To get
her team to Oklahoma City, she not only earned the win in game two against
Georgia Tech but she also hit two homeruns for four RBI for the 7-0 win.
Lawrie has hit .277 on the season, scoring 13 runs with six homeruns and
25 RBI. She tied for third on the team in slugging percentage with .500.
The three finalists for the 2009
USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Award including Lawrie were Kaitlin
Cochran (Arizona State) and Stacey Nelson (Florida). A replica of the award
will be placed in a permanent display in the ASA National Softball Hall of
Fame in Oklahoma City, along with photos of the winner. An additional replica
of the award will be presented to the player’s academic institution
at a designated event in the fall. Past winners of the award include Stacey
Nuveman (UCLA-2002), Osterman (Texas-2003, 2005, 2006), Jessica Van der Linden
(Florida State-2004), Monica Abbott (Tennessee-2007) and Angela Tincher (Virginia
Tech-2008).
The Amateur Softball Association,
founded in 1933, is the National Governing Body of softball in the United
States and a member of the United States Olympic Committee. The ASA has become
one of the nation’s largest sports organizations and now sanctions
competition in every state through a network of 83 local associations. The
ASA has grown from a few hundred teams in the early days to over 210,000
teams today, representing a membership of more than three million. For more
information on the ASA, visit
http://www.asasoftball.com/.
USA Softball is the brand created,
operated and owned by the ASA that links the USA Men’s, Women’s,
Junior Boys’ and Junior Girls’ National Team programs together.
USA Softball is responsible for training, equipping and promoting these four
National Teams to compete in international and domestic competitions. The
USA Softball Women’s National Team is one of the only two women’s
sports involved in the Olympic movement to capture three consecutive gold
medals at the Olympic Games since 1996. The U.S. women have also won eight
World Championship titles including the last six consecutive as well as claimed
two World Cup of Softball titles. For more information about USA Softball,
please visit
http://www.usasoftball.com/.
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