Ellis and Groves Named to Watch List

[Bullsfan]

Ellis and Groves Named to Watch List

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK (April 7, 2004)-USF seniors Leigh Ann Ellis and Holly Groves have each been named one of the 25 finalists for the 2004 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Award.

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 25 players that represent 18 colleges and six different Conferences.

Groves is currently leading the team in almost every offensive category. She is batting .447 with 15 doubles, 14 home runs and 69 RBI. She holds the single-season record for home runs and RBI at USF; she is also the all-time home run leader at the school. With her 69th RBI she broke the single-season record for Conference USA.

Ellis is 28-4 on the year with a 0.77 ERA. In the last 30.1 innings of work, she has not allowed an earned run and in 17 appearances, she has not allowed an extra base hit. She holds the single-season record with 320 strikeouts and innings pitched with 315.2.

http://gobulls.usf.edu/Sports/News.asp?i=642&s=Softball

[Velcro]

2 players out of 25 is pretty **** good!

[Papa_Bull]

Here is the USA Release on it:

Top 25 Finalists for Collegiate Player of the Year Award

6/7/2004

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK The Amateur Softball Association, the National Governing Body of Softball in the United States, and USA Softball announced today the 25 finalists for the 2004 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Award. 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 25 players that represent 18 colleges and six different Conferences.

The 2004 top 25 Finalists include:

Monica Abbott, Tennessee

Nicole Barber, Georgia

Autumn Champion, Arizona

Christina Clark, Fresno State

Leigh Ann Ellis, South Florida

Keira Goerl, UCLA

Holly Groves, South Florida

Alicia Hollowell, Arizona

Peaches James, Nebraska

Lauren Lappin, Stanford

Jessica van der Linden, Florida State

Caitlin Lowe, Arizona

Monica Hoffman, Oregon State

Iyhia McMichael, Mississippi State

Brooke Mitchell, Louisiana-Lafayette

Stephanie Ramos, UCLA

Kristen Rivera, Washington

Heather Scaglione, Oklahoma

Kristin Schmidt, LSU

Dana Sorensen, Stanford

Jamie Southern, Fresno State

Cristin Vitek, Baylor

Kim Wendland, Georgia

Haley Woods, California

Phelan Wright, Arizona State

Note: Florida’s Jenny Gladding was selected among the top 25 finalist but was removed from further consideration after suffering a season ending injury last week.

The list will be reduced to ten players on April 28 and three finalists will be announced May 11. The winner of the 2004 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Award will be announced May 26 at the opening ceremonies of the NCAA College World Series in Oklahoma City, OK. The winner will be recognized and presented with the 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.

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 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.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 back-to-back gold medals at the Olympic Games since 1996. The U.S. women have also won seven World Championship titles including the last five consecutive. For more information about USA Softball, please visit www.usasoftball.com.

[Velcro]

2 on list:  USF, Fresno State, UCLA,Stanford

3 on list:  Arizona (#1 ranked)

not bad company!

[bulls96go]

WTG

[smazza]

great acomplshment

can't imagine award not going to bcs school

[smazza]

i think money talks and big 6 conferences carry weight but i may be wrong. just a feeling.it would'nt be fair if there was such bias.

[Guest bullman33]

The only two CUSA players on the list both attend USF, way to go!!  No BE teams on the list either, hopefully Coach Ken can continue to build the program into a national power.