Two Sooners Among Final 25

April 10, 2003

NORMAN, Okla. - OU softball senior third baseman Leah Gulla and sophomore pitcher Kami Keiter are among the 25 finalists for the 2003 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Award the Amateur Softball Association announced from its conference office in Oklahoma City on Thursday.

The award, which is considered the Heisman Trophy in women's collegiate softball and is the only national player of the year award, is designed to recognize outstanding athletic achievement by female collegiate softball players across the country. The final list is comprised of 25 players that represent 19 colleges and 9 different Conferences.

Oklahoma was one of only five schools nationally to place more than one player on the list and the only Big XII school to do so. The Sooners join Arizona, Cal State Fullerton, Georgia and UCLA with multiple honorees.

Big XII Conference members Texas, Nebraska and Oklahoma State each placed one player on the list.

Leah Gulla leads the team with a .388 batting average this season. Against Big XII competition, Gulla is batting . 333. She leads OU in total bases (77), RBI (39), doubles (8) and hits (45).

Gulla got the first hit in the seventh inning in OU's dramatic 2-1 comeback win over Oklahoma State on April 2. She also belted the game-winning home run in OU's 5-1 win over Missouri on March 26 and added another roundtripper on March 30 in the Sooners' 3-0 win over Baylor.

She is second on the team with eight home runs and moved to fourth on the all-time OU career home runs list with 30. Gulla has now started 103 consecutive games for the Sooners since the beginning of the 2002 season. She owns the longest current games started streak on the team.

Gulla has been named Big XII Player of the Week twice this season and was honored as NFCA National Player of the Week earlier this year. It marked the first time OU has had a National Player of the Week.

Keiter (22-2) pitched Oklahoma to wins against intrastate rival Oklahoma State and Iowa State last week. On the season, Keiter's struck out 150 of 569 batters faced with an opponent's batting average of .163. She's allowed just 17 runs.

Keiter was named Big 12 Pitcher of the Week after striking out a career-high 14 batters at No. 5 Nebraska on March 20. On the season, Keiter leads the Sooners on the mound with 165 innings pitched and an ERA of 0.72. Keiter also leads the Big 12 with 10 shutouts.

The list will be reduced to ten players on April 29 and three finalists will be announced May 13. The winner of the 2003 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Award will be announced May 21 at the opening ceremonies of the NCAA College World Series in Oklahoma City, OK. The winner will be recognized and presented with the Player of the Year trophy during the ASA National Council Meeting in Orlando, Fla., in November.

Name	School	Hometown	Pos.	Class	B/T
Nicole Barber	Georgia	Oregon City, OR	CF	Jr.	L/L
Lauren Bay	Oklahoma St.	Trail, B.C., Canada	P/OF	Sr.	R/L
Kara Brun	Arizona St.	Glendale, AZ	SS	Sr.	R/R
Lindsay Chouinard	DePaul	Fresno, CA	P/UT	Sr.	L/L
Jodie Cox	Cal St. Fullerton	Lancaster, CA	P/OF	Sr.	L/L
Keira Goerl	UCLA	Moreno Valley, CA	P	Jr.	R/R
Michelle Green	Georgia	Duluth, GA	P/DP	So.	R/R
Leah Gulla	Oklahoma	Huntington Beach, CA	IN	Sr.	R/R
Andrea Hillsey	Purdue	White Lake, MI	2B/SS	So.	R/R
Alicia Hollowell	Arizona	Suisun City, CA	P	Fr.	R/R
Lovieanne Jung	Arizona	Fountain Valley, CA	SS	Sr.	R/R
Kami Keiter	Oklahoma	Arvada, CA	P/1B	So.	L/L
Oli Keohohou	Brigham Young	Newbury Park, CA	OF	Jr.	R/R
Jessica van der Linden	Florida St.	Cerritos, CA	P/OF	Jr.	L/L
Jackie McClain	Alabama	Soddy Daisy, TN	1B	Jr.	L/R
Iyhia McMichael	Mississippi St.	Nacogdoches, Texas	OF	Jr.	R/R
Tairia Mims	UCLA	Tucson, AZ	1B/C	Sr.	R/R
Veronica Nelson	California	Oakland, CA	1B	Sr.	R/R
Cat Osterman	Texas	Houston, TX	P	So.	L/R

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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