What you need to know:
* Catcher Ivie Drake is being recognized as one of the country's best players in a Top 50 “Watch List” for USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year.
* Drake is coming off a record record season as a freshman last year.
* GSU begins the season against Oregon on Feb. 12 at the Kajikawa Classic hosted by Arizona State.
ATLANTA – Ivie Drake, a sophomore on the Georgia State softball team, was named to the 2016 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Top 50 “Watch List”. Drake is one of only 10 sophomores on the list and one of three representatives of the Sun Belt.
"This is a great honor for both Ivie as an individual player and Georgia State University and our softball program,” head coach Roger Kincaid said. “She is a great student-athlete and always represents our team in a positive way. This is great publicity for Panther Softball.”
As a freshman in 2015, Drake was NFCA All-America second-team, NFCA Finalist for Freshman of the Year, NFCA All-Region, Sun Belt Freshman of the Year, All-Sun Belt first-team, Sun Belt All-Tournament, and won three SBC Player of the Week awards. She hit .462 with 22 HR, 16 2B, 67 RBI and a .918 slugging %, while breaking the GSU single-season records for batting average, hits, RBI, runs scored, HR and slugging %.
Previous recipients of the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year award, the most prestigious individual honor in NCAA Division I Softball, are UCLA catcher Stacey Nuveman (2002), Texas pitcher Cat Osterman (2003, 2005 and 2006), Florida State pitcher Jessica Van der Linden (2004), Tennessee pitcher Monica Abbott (2007), Virginia Tech pitcher Angela Tincher (2008), Washington pitcher Danielle Lawrie (2009 and 2010), Stanford shortstop Ashley Hansen (2011), Oklahoma's Keilani Ricketts (2012 and 2013), Florida State's Lacey Waldrop (2014) and Florida's Lauren Haeger (2015).
The pre-season “Watch List” includes 25 seniors, 15 juniors and 10 sophomores, with freshman ineligible for consideration. (Freshman can be considered for the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year award once they have competed at the collegiate level). Athletes named to the “Watch List” represent 35 NCAA Division I universities and 15 athletic conferences.
The Top 25 Finalists for the 2016 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year award will be announced April 13. While an athlete does not have to be on the “Watch List” to be considered for the Top 25, the eventual USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year will come from the Top 25 Finalists. The Top 10 Finalists will be announced May 11 and the Top 3 announced May 25. The 2015 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year will be revealed May 31.
Follow along with Georgia State on Twitter (@GSU_Softball) for the latest news.
