BATON ROUGE, La. – LSU junior Carley Hoover and senior Sahvanna Jaquish were named to the 2017 USA Softball Player of the Year Top 50 “Watch List” the organization announced on Wednesday afternoon.
Announced today by USA Softball, the National Governing Body of Softball in the United States, the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year award enters its 16th season and recognizes outstanding athletic achievement by Division I female collegiate softball players across the country.
Hoover, a pitcher from Clemson, South Carolina, was 22-8 in the circle for the Tigers in 2016, becoming the first LSU hurler since 2013 to win at least 20 games in a season. Hoover had 225 strikeouts, holding opponents to a .210 batting average in 194.1 innings of work.
The team’s top returning hitter, Jaquish tied her own season record for RBIs in a year with 76, as the Highland, California, product hit .343 with 69 hits, 19 for doubles and 13 home runs, with a .632 slugging percentage and .463 on-base percentage. Defensively, Jaquish had a .982 fielding percentage which tied for the second highest among positional starters.
The pre-season “Watch List” includes 26 seniors, 18 juniors and 6 sophomores, with freshman ineligible for consideration. LSU is one of three schools to have at least two nominees and one of just eight schools to have multiple nominees. The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is well-represented among the Top 50 “Watch List” with 12 member-schools.
The Top 25 Finalists for the 2017 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year award will be announced April 12. While an athlete does not have to be on the “Watch List” to be considered for the Top 25, the eventual USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year will come from the Top 25 Finalists. The Top 10 Finalists will be announced May 10 and the Top 3 announced May 24. The 2017 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year will be revealed May 30.
For all of the latest news and information on Tiger softball, visit www.lsusports.net/softball. Fans can also follow the program on its social media outlets at www.Facebook.com/lsusoftball along with @lsusoftball and @BethTorina on Twitter and @lsusb on Instagram.