LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The National Fastpitch Coaches Association is proud to announce the top three finalists for the inaugural Schutt Sports/NFCA Division II National Player of the Year award, which will be presented prior to the start of the Division II National Championship in Oklahoma City.
Missouri-St. Louis junior Hannah Perryman, North Georgia junior Courtney Poole and Augustana (S.D.) senior Jenelle Trautmann are the three outstanding student-athletes that made the final cut.
Perryman has enjoyed a perfect record-breaking season in the circle for Missouri-St. Louis, helping her team to its first No. 1 national ranking and the host of this weekend’s Midwest Super Regional. Selected the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) Pitcher of the Year, the lefty hurler has rewritten the record books national scale. She has twirled an NCAA-record six perfect games this season and tied Texas All-American Cat Osterman and DIII All-American Rachel Johnson of Salisbury for the career record with seven. A native of Streamwood, Ill., Perryman is 29-3 with a 1.13 ERA, 17 shutouts, 383 strikeouts and just 26 walks in 281.2 innings of work, while holding her opposition to a miniscule .125 batting average. Her 13.1 strikeouts and 3.12 hits per seven innings pitched lead all of Division II, while her total strikeouts and shutouts rank second and victories sixth.
A homegrown talent from Watkinsville, Ga., Poole has been a dominant force in the circle for sixth-ranked North Georgia. The Peach Belt Pitcher of the Year leads the NCAA – in all divisions – in victories (40), tops Division II in ERA (0.92) and is third in shutouts (14) and seventh in strikeouts (319). The staff workhorse (40-3) has recorded 48 appearances (43 starts) and logged 281.2 innings in the Nighthawks’ 54 games this season. Poole has finished 34 of those starts, while allowing just 27 walks and holding her opponents to a .173 batting average. Her efforts in the circle this season have keyed UNG to a Southeast Super Regional appearance where it will host Peach Belt rival Georgia State for the right to play for a Division II National Championship.
With both her bat and arm, Trautmann has played a big role in No. 9 Augustana claiming a Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference regular-season title and the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Central region. The NSIC Pitcher of the Year and two-time NFCA All-American is 32-3 with an 1.80 ERA, 300 strikeouts and a .200 batting average against. Batting .414, Trautmann amassed 67 hits, 10 doubles, 20 home runs, 72 RBI, 42 runs scored and 47 walks, while slugging .846 and recording a .550 on base percentage. The Hastings, Minn. native is tied for the NCAA lead in RBI and is ranked third in victories, tied for sixth in home runs, eighth in strikeouts and tied for 10th in strikeouts per seven innings (9.80). She ranks first in Augustana history and second in Division II history with 74 career home runs, 237 RBI, 103 walks, 104 wins and batters struck out. On top of that, she is ranked first amongst active DII players and third across all divisions in career home runs.
The National Player of the Year trophy will be presented during a live ceremony at the Division II Championship/All-American banquet on Wednesday May 20.
Behind the collaboration between the NFCA and the Division II Head Coaches Committee, and the generosity of Schutt Sports, the award was created to honor the outstanding athletic achievement among softball student-athletes throughout Division II.
The Division II National Player of the Year award is voted on by the members of the NFCA’s Division II All-American & Coaching Staff of the Year Committee.