OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. – Drake University softball redshirt senior pitcher Nicole Newman (Madison, Wis.) is one of 10 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, May 8.
 
Click here for the list of 10 finalists for USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year
 
Newman, who earlier today became just the second Missouri Valley Conference pitcher to be selected the MVC Pitcher of the Year three times. Newman is 26-6 overall with a 0.91 earned run average (third in nation) and a nation-leading 362 strikeouts. She also leads the country in strikeouts per seven innings at 13.2 and hits allowed per seven innings at 2.66. Her 12 shutouts and strikeout-to-walk ratio of 8.62 each rank second in the nation. Her 26 wins are the most by a Drake pitcher since Laurie Bowden won a program-record 28 games in 1990. This season, Newman has four perfect game no-hitters and two no-hitters. She won 10 MVC Pitcher of the Week awards this season and a league-record 23 overall and was tabbed to the All-MVC First Team four times in her outstanding career. She is the Drake and the MVC all-time career strikeouts leader with 1,162 and is Drake's all-time wins leader with 90, a total that ranks second in the MVC.
 
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.
 
The finalists include six seniors, three juniors and one sophomore representing nine NCAA Division I universities and six athletic conferences. Among the universities, the No. 1 Oklahoma Sooners have two student-athletes among the list of finalists while Drake, Florida, Georgia, James Madison, Kentucky, Mississippi State, UCLA and Wisconsin are represented by one student-athlete.
 
The Top 3 finalists will be announced on May 22 before the 2019 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year will be announced on May 28.
 
The USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year is voted on by coaching representatives of 10 Division I Conferences in the 10 USA Softball Regions, members of the media who consistently cover Division I Softball across the country as well as past winners of the award.