The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Osterman wins Honda Award as softball national player of the year
06.07.2005 | Softball
AUSTIN, Texas -- The University of Texas' junior left-handed pitcher Cat Osterman (Houston, Texas) was named the 29th-annual Honda Award winner for softball. Osterman, who was also the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year this season and the unanimous national player of the year, is now one of 12 finalists for the Honda-Broderick Cup - honoring the Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year - which will be presented in New York City on June 29. The Honda Award is voted on by administers at 1,000 NCAA member schools as part of the Collegiate Women Sports Awards program.
The other nominees in the softball category were Arizona sophomore outfielder Caitlin Lowe, Washington senior catcher Kristen Rivera and Texas A&M freshman utility player Amanda Scarborough. Osterman was a finalist for the softball award in 2003, as well.
"This is such an honor," Osterman said. "To be voted the best in your sport is very humbling, especially when you consider who the other finalists were and what they accomplished this year. Looking at the list of past winners in softball, it reads like a who's-who and I'm honored that my name will be listed among the greats in our sport."
Osterman returned from an Olympic redshirt season in 2004 - where she was a member of the gold-medal winning U.S. Olympic softball team and was the only collegian on the team - to lead Texas back to the Women's College World Series and a third-place showing at the event in 2005. Osterman led the nation in earned run average with a 0.36 mark, and posted 593 strikeouts on the season for an NCAA-best 15.2 strikeouts per seven innings, an all-time record. She had a 30-7 overall record, and earned her third All-America nod in as many seasons, as well as her third Big 12 Pitcher of the Year and first-team All-Big 12 Conference honor. Additionally, Osterman was voted Big 12 Tournament Most Valuable Player for the third time in as many tries.
"This is a great honor for Cat and our program," Texas head coach Connie Clark, who was the 1986 Honda Award for softball honoree, said. "Cat has been the model of consistency this season and has been a great factor in the team's success. Coming off a world-wind tour with the Olympic team last year, Cat came back and had her best season yet at the collegiate level. She is deserving of this honor, as well as her place among the sport's best in which this award puts her."
Other Honda Award winners already announced include: LSU's Seimone Augustus (basketball), Stanford's Ogonna Nnamani (volleyball), Wake Forest's Kelly Dostal (field hockey), Santa Clara's Leslie Osborne (soccer), Providence College's Kim Smith (cross-country), Auburn's Kirsty Coventry (swimming), UCLA's Kristen Maloney (gymnastics), Duke's Anna Grzebien (golf), Baylor's Zena Zemenova (tennis) and Northwestern's Kristen Kjellman (lacrosse). The athlete voted the most outstanding in track & field will be named in the next week and Texas' Marshevet Hooker is one of the finalists.
American Honda Motor Co., Inc. sponsors the Collegiate Women Sports Awards Program.
