TEMPE – For the third consecutive season, Arizona State University senior Amber Freeman has been named as one of 26 finalists for the 2015 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year, as announced by the Amateur Softball Association and USA Softball on Wednesday afternoon.
The senior catcher and designated hitter out of Lakewood, Calif., (Mater Dei HS) has long cemented herself as one of the elite hitters in ASU history and one need look no further than the numbers to establish that.
At 52 career home runs, Freeman is one of four Sun Devils in program history to eclipse the 50-dinger mark and currently sits fourth all-time in the category. Her 185 career RBI are sixth in program history and her 241 hits sit eighth in program lore. That’s not to mention her 44 career doubles, a tally that ranks tied for fourth in the Devil record books.
A two-time All-American and the 2013 Pac-12 Player of the Year, Freeman has been making the most of her senior campaign.
Her .431 season batting average is 50 points higher than any other player on the team while she leads the way with 11 homers and is second on the squad with 39 RBI. Freeman has 14 doubles on the season, a career single season best and currently tied for the 11th-most in ASU single season history.
Were the season to end today, Freeman’s .431 average would be the sixth-best single season mark in Sun Devil history and her career .383 average would rank third all-time.
Additionally, Freeman is currently one of the hottest players in the country and perhaps the hottest player in the Pac-12 since the start of conference play.
In 12 games since Pac-12 action began, Freeman is batting an incredible .595 (22-for-37 with five home runs and 15 RBI along with a team-leading five doubles. She’s walked eight times to just two strikeouts and has a .652 on-base percentage along with a monstrous 1.054 slugging percentage.
Her .565 average in eight Pac-12 games, along with her 1.130 slugging and .645 on-base percentage lead all conference players in league games.
And with all the offensive numbers, it could be easy to overlook Freeman’s presence in the classroom. But that’s certainly worth mention as the 2014 Academic All-American continues to boast well over a 3.00 GPA in health sciences. A two-time Pac-12 All Conference selection, Freeman was one of 30 candidate for the 2015 Senior CLASS award.
ABOUT THE AWARD
This year’s Top 26 is comprised of 12 seniors, 11 juniors and two sophomores and one freshman. The student-athletes selected represent 19 NCAA Division I universities and nine athletic conferences. Arizona, Florida, Georgia, LSU, Oklahoma, Oregon and UCLA each have two players represented and Alabama, Arizona State, Auburn, Florida State, James Madison, Louisiana-Lafayette, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, Notre Dame, UCF and Western Kentucky each have one member among the Top 25 Finalists.
Just prior to the start of post-season play, on May 6 the list will be narrowed to the Top 10 Finalists. The Top 3 Finalists will be announced May 20, while the winner of the 2015 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year award will be revealed on May 26 prior to the start of the NCAA WCWS in Oklahoma City.
The USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year award is voted on by coaching representatives from 10 Division I Conferences in the 15 ASA Regions, members of the media who consistently cover Division I Softball across the country as well as past winners of the award.
About ASA/USA Softball Founded in 1933, the Amateur Softball Association (ASA)/USA Softball is the National Governing Body Softball in the United States and a member of the United States Olympic Committee. One of the nation’s largest sports organizations, ASA/USA Softball sanctions competition in every state through a network of 74 local associations and 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. ASA/USA is responsible for training, equipping and promoting the six USA Softball National Teams that compete in international and domestic competitions. The USA Softball Women’s National Team is one of 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 as well as claimed eight World Cup of Softball titles. For more information about ASA/USA Softball, please visit http://www.asausasoftball.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 25th year, the top eight college teams in the nation will head to Oklahoma City and complete for a National Championship title. Last year, nearly 70,000 fans attended the WCWS. Experience It Live May 28 to June 3 in Oklahoma City. Tickets for the 2015 NCAA WCWS are on sale now, click here to purchase your tickets and make a date with champions!