FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 27, 2014

 

Florida State’s Waldrop named 2014 USA Softball National Collegiate Player of the Year

 

OKLAHOMA CITY — The Amateur Softball Association (ASA) of America and USA Softball announced today that Florida State pitcher Lacey Waldrop (Chester, Va.) was selected as the 2014 USA Softball National Collegiate Player of the Year.  The award, which is considered the most prestigious honor in Division I women’s softball, is designed to recognize outstanding athletic achievement by female collegiate softball players across the country.  This season, Waldrop helped lead the Florida State Seminoles to their eighth NCAA Women’s College World Series (WCWS) appearance, their first since 2004. Florida State becomes the first team to have two different players select as USA Softball National Collegiate Player of the Year with Jessica Van der Linden taking the honor in 2004.

The 2014 Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Conference Pitcher of the Year, Waldrop paces the country with 38 wins to just five losses and ranks third with a 1.01 Earned Run Average (ERA). In 257 innings in the circle this season, the Florida State junior has given up just five home runs and has held opposing batters to a .184 batting average. Waldrop, a two-time All-ACC selection, led her Seminoles to both regular season and conference tournament titles in 2014.

Waldrop Quote

 

In just three seasons, Waldrop has compiled an 81-20 record with 680 strikeouts ranking her ninth all-time in Florida State history. Behind their pitching ace, the Seminoles climbed from a preseason No. 12 ranking to the No. 3 overall spot in the final regular season ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 poll.

 

Coach Quote

  

The other two finalists for the 2014 award were Michigan’s Big 10 Player of the Year Sierra Romero (Murrieta, Calif.), who ranks second in the nation with a .491 batting average, and Pac-12 Player of the Year Ally Carda (Elk Grove, Calif.) of UCLA who finished the season with a 1.90 ERA and ..394 batting average.

 

The USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year award is voted on by coaching representatives from 11 Division I Conferences in the 15 ASA Regions as well as members of the media who consistently cover Division I Softball across the country, and previous Player of the Year recipients. Other past winners of this award include UCLA’s Stacey Nuveman, three-time winner from Texas Cat Osterman, Tennessee’s Monica Abbott, Virginia Tech’s Angela Tincher, two-time winner Washington’s Danielle Lawrie, 2011 winner Ashley Hansen from Stanford and 2012 and 2013 back-to-back winner Keilani Ricketts of Oklahoma.

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 165,000 teams today, representing a membership of more than 2.5 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

 

 

Julie Bartel

ASA/USA Softball

Director of Marketing & Communications

2801 NE 50th Street

Oklahoma  City, OK 73111

 

405-425-3463 - work

405-203-4645 - cell

jbartel@softball.org

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