10:00pm | Junior pitcher Brook Turner has been named to the USA Softball Player of the Year Watch List the Amateur Softball Association (ASA) announced Wednesday.
The Buena Park native out of Kennedy High School is coming off a solid sophomore season in which she earned second-team All-Big West Conference honors. The Buena Park, Calif., native finished the year with 18 wins, which included impressive victories over ranked foes UCLA (No. 3) and Fresno State (No. 12). She also compiled six shutouts, 157 strikeouts and a 2.35 earned run average.
As a freshman, Turner garnered second-team All-America recognition, as well as first-team All-West Region and first-team all-conference accolades. She was also tabbed the 2008 Big West Pitcher of the Year.
Turner, who won a conference-record eight Big West Pitcher of the Week awards in 2008, finished the campaign with a 27-6 overall record and an unblemished 12-0 mark in league action. She had a Big West leading 0.80 ERA, while she also established a 49er single-season record with 237 strikeouts.
Turner enters her junior season ranked among Long Beach State’s career leaders in strikeouts (3rd, 394), shutouts (8th, 23), wins (9th, 45) and complete games (10th, 53).
This is the second consecutive year Turner has been named to the preseason Top 50 Watch List. She was also selected as a top 25 finalist as a freshman.
The 2010 preseason Watch List is comprised of 50 players, representing 35 schools and 14 different NCAA Division I conferences.
The ASA will announce the top 25 finalists on April 7, and a list of 10 finalists will be named and released on May 12. That group will be narrowed down to three finalists on May 26 with the winner of the 2010 USA Softball National Collegiate Player of the Year Award being announced prior to the start of the NCAA Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City.
Long Beach State, which was receiving votes in the ESPN.com/USA Softball preseason poll, is set to open the 2010 campaign Feb. 13-14 at the Sportco Kick-Off Classic in Las Vegas, Nev.
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