Notre Dame's Winter earns USA Softball National Collegiate Player of the Week honors

April 23, 2013

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Notre Dame’s Winter earns USA Softball National Collegiate Player of the Week honors

 

OKLAHOMA CITY ---  A combination of outstanding hitting and pitching have earned Notre Dame pitcher Laura Winter (San Diego, Calif.) the USA Softball National Collegiate Player of the Week award the Amateur Softball Association (ASA) of America and USA Softball announced today. The junior was 5-for-12 from the plate for a .417 batting average and maintained a 0.33 ERA from the circle, picking up three wins for the Irish over the week.

 

“It’s truly an honor to represent Notre Dame as the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Week,” said Winter. “I can’t thank my teammates enough for all of their support behind me in the field, they always have my back.”   

 

Winter’s exceptional performance began with a midweek matchup versus Michigan State. The right hander went seven complete innings in a 2-0 shutout victory over the Spartans. Winter’s pitching heroics continued on Saturday as she recorded her second win of the week, this a 7-1 decision over conference foe Pittsburgh. The Irish ace remained perfect on the week with another shutout performance on Sunday as Notre Dame swept Pittsburgh with a 7-0 victory. Winter finished the week with 35 strikeouts in 21 innings pitched. She allowed just one run on eight hits in her three games in the circle.

 

A threat from the plate as well, Winter also contributed three home runs leading to a .533 on-base percentage and a 1.167 slugging percentage over the week.  It all added up to four runs scored and eight RBI.

 

“Laura has completely changed her game this season,” said Notre Dame Head Coach Deanna Gumpf. “She has found the offense that we always knew was in her.  She’s got confidence at the plate and thinks she can hit any pitch.  Right now, she’s a weapon offensively and defensively and she earned it, she had a great week.”

This is the first USA Softball National Collegiate Player of the Week honor for the junior and the first Player of the Week honor for a Notre Dame player in the 11-year history of the award.

 

2013 USA Softball National Collegiate Players of the Week Week 1 (Feb. 7-10): Keilani Ricketts - Oklahoma - Senior - Pitcher– San Jose, Calif. Week 2 (Feb. 11-17): BB Bates – UCLA – Senior – Outfield – Victorville, Calif. Week 3 (Feb. 18-24): Mel Dumezich – Texas A&M – Senior – Pitcher – Whiting, Ind.

Week 4 (Feb. 25- March 3): Katie Keller – Louisville – Junior – Second Base – Livermore, Calif.

Week 5 (March 4-10): Ivy Renfroe – Tennessee – Senior – Pitcher – Jackson, Tenn.

Week 6 (March 11-17): Kaia Parnaby – Hawai’i – Senior – Pitcher – Bilgola Plateau, NSW, Australia

Week 7 (March 18-24): Raven Chavanne – Tennessee – Senior – Utility – Thousand Oaks, Calif. Week 8 (March 25-31): Amy Letourneau – Northwestern – Sophomore – Pitcher/1B – Laguna Niguel, Calif.

Week 9 (April 1-7): Olivia Galati – Hofstra – Senior – Pitcher – West Babylon, N.Y.

Week 10 (April 8-14): Geri Ann Glasco – Georgia – Pitcher/Infield – Watkinsville, Ga.

Week 11 (April 15-21): Laura Winter – Notre Dame – Pitcher/Infield – San Diego, Calif.

 

About ASA 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 76 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/.
About USA Softball 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 nine World Championship titles including the last seven consecutive as well as claimed six World Cup of Softball titles. For more information about USA Softball, please visit http://www.usasoftball.com/.
About the NCAA Women’s College World Series The ASA Hall of Fame Stadium serves as the home to the NCAA Women’s College World Series (WCWS). For the 23rd year, the top eight college teams in the nation will head to Oklahoma City and complete for a National Championship title. Last year, over 75,000 fans attended the WCWS. Experience It Live May 30 to June 5 in Oklahoma City. Tickets for the 2013 NCAA WCWS are on sale now, click here to purchase your tickets and make a date with champions!

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------  Steven Embree | ASA/USA Softball

Assistant Director of Marketing and Communications 2801 NE 50th | Oklahoma City, OK 73111 Work: 405-425-3422 | Cell: 405-207-1004 E-mail: sembree@softball.org | Web: www.usasoftball.com