USA Softball ‘Watch List’ unveiled

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. — Stanford senior Ashley Hansen, the 2011 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year, and 49 other student-athletes have been selected for the “Watch List” for the 2012 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year award, the Amateur Softball Association of America announced Wednesday. Now in its 11th year, the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year award, given by the national governing body for softball in the United States, is designed to recognize outstanding athletic achievement by female collegiate softball players across the country.

Previous recipients of the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year award, the most prestigious individual honor in NCAA Division I Softball, are UCLA catcher Stacey Nuveman (2002), Texas pitcher Cat Osterman (2003, 2005 and 2006), Florida State pitcher Jessica Van der Linden (2004), Tennessee pitcher Monica Abbott (2007), Virginia Tech pitcher Angela Tincher (2008), Washington pitcher Danielle Lawrie (2009 and 2010) and shortstop Hansen (2011). Arizona State shortstop Katelyn Boyd, now a senior, and Missouri pitcher Chelsea Thomas, currently a redshirt junior, were the other two finalists for last year’s award. 

The preseason list includes 22 seniors, 20 juniors and eight sophomores, with freshmen ineligible for consideration. (Freshmen can be considered for the award once they have competed at the collegiate level.) Athletes named to the list represent 31 Division I universities and 13 athletic conferences. While Cal, Florida, Michigan, Tennessee and Texas lead the way among universities with three athlete representatives each, the Big 12 and Pac-12 have six schools represented.