Messina Named to USA Softball POY Watch List
Senior Laura Messina was named to the USA softball player of the year top-50 watch list on Wednesday.
Senior pitcher Laura Messina of the Central Connecticut softball team was named to the Top 50 "Watch List" for the 2015 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year award, the Amateur Softball Association (ASA) of America and USA Softball announced Wednesday afternoon.
2015 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Watch List
With less than 10 days until the start of the 2015 NCAA Softball season, Messina and 49 other student-athletes from across the country have been selected to the Top 50 "Watch List" for the 2015 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year award. Now in its 14th year, the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year award, given by the National Governing Body for softball in the United States, recognizes outstanding athletic achievement by Division I female collegiate softball players across the country.
Messina has established herself as one of the most dominant pitchers in Central Connecticut softball history over the past three years. She holds just about every single season and career pitching record for the Blue Devils, and has been the team's primary starter for the last three seasons. She holds a career record of 73-35 and an ERA of 1.78.
The Marlton, NJ product has pitched 111 career games making 108 starts and has posted 96 complete games. She has 719 strikeouts in 712.1 career innings pitched and has walked just 108 career batters. She has 200 or more strikeouts in each of her first three seasons including a career-high and school record 266 last season. Messina already holds the career records for wins, games, games started, complete games, innings pitched and strikeouts entering her senior season.
Messina is coming off her best season as a Blue Devil in 2014. During her junior campaign, Messina started in all 37 games she appeared in, finishing with a 24-13 record. She recorded 33 complete games and a career-high and program-best 14 shutouts. In 238.2 innings pitched, Messina allowed just 174 hits, 67 runs and 50 earned runs to end the season with a miniscule 1.47 ERA. She fanned a school record 266 batters, while walking just 36. Her performance in the circle earned her six Northeast Conference Pitcher of the Week awards throughout the season and the 2014 NEC Softball Picher of the Year award.
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), Stanford shortstop Ashley Hansen (2011), Oklahoma's Keilani Ricketts (2012 and 2013) and Florida State's Lacey Waldrop (2014).
The Top 25 Finalists for the 2015 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year award will be announced April 8. An athlete does not have to be on the "Watch List" to be considered for the Top 25, but the eventual USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year will come from the Top 25 Finalists. The Top 10 Finalists will be announced May 6 and the Top 3 announced May 20. The 2015 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year will be revealed May 26.
Messina and the Blue Devils open the 2015 season at Elon University on February 27 and will face Brown and Elon on the first day of the tournament.
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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.
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 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 seven World Cup of Softball titles.
