BATON ROUGE — Former LSU three-time All-American pitcher Kristin Schmidt was named the 2004 NCAA Woman of the Year for the state of Louisiana, as announced by the NCAA.
The NCAA Woman of the Year Award honors outstanding female student-athletes who have excelled in academics, athletics and community leadership, and have completed their collegiate athletics eligibility.
This marks the sixth time in the last eight year that an LSU athlete has earned this honor. Tiger pitcher Britni Sneed earned the award in 2002, golfers Katherine Harris and Lisette Lee earned the award in 2001 and 2000 respectively, gymnast Amy McClosky was the 1998 Louisiana Woman of the Year and Becky Ann Gibbs was the 1997 award winner.
Schmidt was named the 2004 Women’s College World Series Most Outstanding Player, becoming the first player in the tournament’s history to be presented with honor without winning the national championship In one of the most memorable performances in WCWS history, she compiled a 3-2 record over five games started.
With a 1.72 earned run average, she allowed 10 runs on just 36 hits with 10 walks while striking out a series best 44 batters. In 40 and two-thirds innings, she threw over 600 pitches and four complete-games before being relived with two outs in the seventh inning of the fifth game, as the entire crowd gave her a standing ovation.
The 2004 political science graduate threw 20 and two-thirds innings on the tournament’s second to last day of action, picking up two complete-game wins before running out of gas late in the third game. Throwing 349 pitches in her three appearances, the senior hurler allowed just two runs on 11 hits with 21 strikeouts before her final outing. In game three, she allowed four runs, all in the fifth inning, on 12 hits, eight of which came in the final three innings, with five walks while striking out four.
For her career, Schmidt finished as one of only 16 players to have recorded both 1,000 career strikeouts and 100 career victories. Her 1,154 strikeouts is tied for 12th all-time in NCAA history, while her 116 wins ties her for ninth all-time. In 2004, she set the LSU record for wins with 38 and ranked third in strikeouts.
Fifty-two finalists were selected from the 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, by a special committee made up of representatives from NCAA member schools. Ten finalists will be named on Sept. 15 and the NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics will name the 2004 NCAA Woman of the Year at the 14th annual awards dinner to be held Oct. 31 in Indianapolis, Ind.