McMichael Named Top 10 Finalist For Collegiate Player Of The Year
May 25, 2016 | Softball
Senior All-American Currently Leads Nation With .481 Batting Clip
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. -- ? For the second straight season, Mississippi State senior all-American Iyhia McMichael found her name among the nation?s elite Friday afternoon as she was announced as one of the top 10 finalists for the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year award, the Amateur Softball Association announced.
The initial watch list of 25 athletes was announced May 7. Three finalists will be announced May 11th, with the winner of the 2004 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Award being announced May 26 at the opening ceremonies of the NCAA College World Series in Oklahoma City.
The winner will be recognized and presented with the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year trophy during the ASA National Council Meeting in Mobile, Alabama, in November. 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.
The award, which is considered the Heisman Trophy in women's collegiate softball and is the only national player of the year award, is designed to recognize outstanding athletic achievement by female collegiate softball players across the country. The final list is comprised of 10 players that represent seven colleges and six different conferences.
McMichael joined Tennessee rookie righthander Monica Abbott in the final 10. Joining them are Autumn Champion, Alicia Hollowell and Caitlin Lowe from Arizona, Christina Clark and Jamie Southern from Fresno State, Brooke Mitchell from Louisiana-Lafayette, Kristen Rivera from Washington and Jessica van der Linden from Florida State.
Hitting a career-best and NCAA-leading .481 after a 2-for-3 showing with a pair of RBI against UAB Wednesday evening in Starkville, McMichael currently ranks first in the league in seven different hitting categories. She has been named to a pair of all-tournament teams this season, including a Tournament MVP showing at the MSU-hosted Bulldog Classic in February. A day removed from the Bulldog Classic, she collected a trio of conference and national awards, including SEC Player of the Week, as well as NFCA and USA Softball Player of the Week.
Currently riding a 13-game hitting streak, she has turned in an astonishing .571 (20-for-35) batting average during that time span to go along with seven extra-base hits (2 HR), nine RBI and 21 runs scored. Having hit in 39 games this season as the leadoff batter for the Bulldogs, the senior Nacogdoches, Texas, native is hitting .518 in that role with 25 extra-base hits, 29 RBI and 60 runs scored.
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 91 local associations. The ASA has grown from a few hundred teams in the early days to over 240,000 teams today, representing a membership of more than three million. For more information on the ASA, visit www.asaasoftball.com.
