OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. – Drake University softball redshirt junior pitcher Nicole Newman (Madison, Wis.) is one of the 26 finalists for the 2019 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year, USA Softball, the National Governing Body of Softball in the United States, announced Wednesday, April 24. This is the second-consecutive year Newman has been named to the finalist list.
 
The USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year award, which is considered the most prestigious honor in Division I women's collegiate softball, recognizes the outstanding athletic achievement by Division I female student-athletes across the country.
 
Newman, who earlier this week was named the Missouri Valley Conference Pitcher of the Week for the sixth-straight week and 21^st time in her career, threw a no-hitter Tuesday night in Drake's 1-0 win over in-state rival UNI. She allowed just one walk and struck out 13 Panthers.
 
This season, Newman has a nation-best 305 strikeouts and in her career has 1,105 strikeouts. Her career total is the second-most among all active NCAA players in 2019. She has thrown three perfect games, all during the 2019 season, and four no-hitters in her outstanding career.
 
Newman has recorded 12 straight complete games where she has struck out 10 or more in each victory and overall has 18 games with 10 or more strikeouts this season. She is 21-6 with a 0.94 earned run average that ranks fifth in the nation and a league-leading five saves. Newman is allowing a national-low 2.73 hits per game while striking out a national-best 13 per game. Her four shutouts this season rank fourth in the country. Newman leads the MVC in wins, ERA, innings pitched (164.1) and opponent batting average (.114).
 
The 2019 finalists include 10 seniors, nine juniors and four sophomores and three freshmen representing 18 NCAA Division I universities and nine athletic conferences. Among the universities, Arizona has three student-athletes among the list of finalists, followed by Alabama, Florida, Florida State, Oklahoma, UCLA and Washington with two student-athletes. Drake, Georgia, James Madison, Kentucky, Louisiana, LSU, Minnesota, Mississippi State, Northwestern, USF and Wisconsin also are represented by one student-athlete.
 
The list of 26 Finalists will be narrowed to the 10 Finalists on May 8 before the Top 3 Finalists will be announced on May 22. The 2019 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year will be revealed May 28.