Lawrie takes home POY, leads Huskies into WCWS

May 28, 2009, 12:00 AM

Washington will begin a quest today to prove itself as the best college softball team in the country, opening play in the Women's College World Series (WCWS) this morning against Georgia in Oklahoma City. But the Huskies have already staked claim to the nation's best player. UW pitcher Danielle Lawrie was named the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year by the Amateur Softball Association of America on Tuesday night at the tournament's opening ceremonies, edging out other finalists Kaitlin Cochran, Arizona State's power-hitting outfielder, and Florida pitcher Stacey Nelson. Lawrie is the first player in UW softball history to take home any kind of national player of the year hardware. She's 37-7 this year with a 0.84 ERA, recently shutting out Georgia Tech in the Atlanta Super Regional championship game and adding a pair of 2-run homers to make a convincing statement that there's nobody better in the country. And, as has been the norm for Lawrie throughout a season that has seen her set numerous school records - including the UW's career strikeout mark and the record for shutouts in a season - she said that taking home this particular trophy was never really on her mind, either. "I'd heard about it," Lawrie said from Oklahoma City yesterday. "When we were here in 2007, [Tennessee pitcher] Monica Abbott won it, so I knew what it was. I'd been recognized as top 50 and stuff before this." UW head coach Heather Tarr said she was a little surprised at first that the award wasn't given to Cochran or Nelson, since both are seniors. Nelson posted numbers slightly better than Lawrie's in the circle this season, going 39-3 so far this season with a 0.41 ERA. But Lawrie has also been a mainstay in UW's batting order, beefing up her presence at the plate this season to establish herself as one of the most versatile players in the country. "Any time a pitcher can have the stats like Nelson or Dani, they're going to go with the pitcher," Tarr said. "But the fact that Danielle has made significant offensive contributions to our team, I think that kind of put it over the edge." She'll have to continue her domination in the circle, as well as her torrid hitting of late, for the Huskies to leave Oklahoma with a bigger trophy. The UW has already played No. 6 Georgia, its first round opponent, twice this season. The teams split, with the Huskies taking a 6-0 win and the Bulldogs blanking UW 2-0 in the other outing. Both games were played in Alabama early in the non-conference season at the SEC/Pac-10/Big 12 Challenge. The Huskies split with No. 4 Alabama, another WCWS entrant, in that same tournament. Washington has also played - and beaten - five of the other six teams in the WCWS field, including the tournament's No. 1 seed, Florida. The Huskies have an 8-4 record against this year's WCWS participants. That's something that Tarr said she expected when she looked at this year's schedule, one that was the most brutal of any in program history. The UW played almost every team in the preseason top 10, then had three-game series against top-10 teams UCLA, Arizona, Arizona State and Stanford in conference play. "When we had [the schedule] fully done, you're just thinking, 'Wow, there's never going to be a break,'" Tarr said. "And then when you get to the world series, these are the teams you're going to have to beat." Or, more accurately for the UW, beat again. Reach sports editor Christian Caple at sports@dailyuw.com.

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