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Arizona senior becomes first student-athlete to win softball honor twice

TUCSON, Ariz., June 16 /PRNewswire/ -- In its third decade of honoring the nation's best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company, in partnership with ESPN RISE, today announced senior pitcher Kenzie Fowler of Canyon del Oro High School (Oro Valley, Ariz.) as its 2008-09 Gatorade National Softball Player of the Year.

Fowler becomes the first student-athlete ever to win back-to-back Gatorade National Softball Player of the Year recognition. She is also the sixth athlete in the program's 24-year history to win Gatorade National Player of the Year honors more than once, joining LeBron James (2001-02, 2002-03), Greg Oden (2004-05, 2005-06), Candace Parker (2002-03, 2003-04), Marion Jones (1990-91, 1991-92, 1992-93) and Cynthia Barboza (2003-04, 2004-05).

The award, which recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field, distinguishes Fowler as the nation's best high school softball player. A national advisory board comprised of sportswriters and sport-specific experts from around the country helped select Fowler from more than 371,000 high school softball players nationwide. Fowler is now once again a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade Female High School Athlete of the Year award, to be presented at a special afternoon ceremony prior to The ESPY Awards in July.

The returning Gatorade National Softball Player of the Year, the 6-foot senior pitcher is a three-time winner of the Gatorade Arizona Softball Player of the Year award. The No. 1-ranked player in the country by ESPNU, Fowler led Canyon del Oro (34-2) to its third straight Class 4A Division I state title this past season, compiling a 25-2 record and a 0.05 earned run average while recording 344 strikeouts. She allowed just 23 hits and issued only 16 walks in 160.2 innings. A three-time Arizona Daily Star and Tucson Citizen Player of the Year, Fowler recorded six no-hitters, including four in a row, as well as three perfect games in 2009. At the plate, she batted .466 with seven home runs and 45 RBIs, including a .795 slugging percentage. A three-time EA Sports First Team All-American, Fowler posted a 105-8 career pitching record, along with 1,449 strikeouts and an ERA of 0.15 in 685.1 innings, compiling a WHIP of 0.403, 30 no-hitters and a school-record 161 career hits as a batter.

An Amateur Softball Association of America 2009 USA Softball Women's National Team Selection Camp invitee, Fowler's fastball tops out at 71 mph, the same speed University of Arizona legend and Olympic Gold Medalist Jennie Finch peaked at as a collegian.

Fowler has maintained a 3.39 GPA in the classroom. She volunteers extensively in the intensive care unit at University Medical Center in Tucson, where she herself was treated for life-threatening blood clots in her throwing shoulder in 2007. Fowler spent much of this year as a classroom teacher's aide in Canyon del Oro's special needs program, and participated in the school's Link Crew peer mentoring initiative throughout her junior year. She has also donated her time as a youth motivational coach and speaker in association with the Arizona Diamondbacks, as an area youth softball coach, and on behalf of the Tucson-based Ben's Bells Project charity.

"Kenzie is a tremendous young talent," said Jay Miller, head coach of the USA Softball Women's National Team. "She had problems with injury earlier in her career and hopefully that's behind her. I look forward to an outstanding career from her, not only in college, but beyond with the Team USA. She throws very hard and has tremendous upside as a pitcher, so she'll develop that skill set even more, but she has all the tools. She's someone we're very interested in from a National Team perspective."

Fowler has signed a National Letter of Intent to play softball on scholarship at the University of Arizona this fall.

"Without question, Kenzie is deserving of recognition as the nation's best high school softball player based on her statistics on the field and the impact her play had on Canyon del Oro's success," said Gatorade Senior Vice President of Sports Marketing Jeff Urban. "But she is also a shining example to peers and aspiring young players of what a leader and a student-athlete should be. She represents everything we hope for in a Gatorade Player of the Year recipient."

The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one winner in the District of Columbia and each of the 50 states that sanction high school football, girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, baseball, softball, and boys and girls track & field, and awards one National Player of the Year in each sport. The selection process is administered by ESPN RISE, which works with top sport-specific experts and a media advisory board of accomplished, veteran prep sports journalists to determine the state winners in each sport.

Former notable Gatorade National Players of the Year include:

    --  Softball Olympic gold medalist Cat Osterman
    --  Super Bowl Most Valuable Player Peyton Manning
    --  Kansas City Royals ace Zach Grienke
    --  WNBA all-time leading scorer and rebounder Lisa Leslie
    --  NFL all-time leading rusher Emmitt Smith

    --  Reigning 200-meter world champion Allyson Felix

For more on the Gatorade Player of the Year program, including nomination information and lists of past winners and future announcement dates, visit playeroftheyear.gatorade.com.

ALL-TIME GATORADE NATIONAL SOFTBALL PLAYERS OF THE YEAR

     Year       Name                 High School             Status

    2008-09  Kenzie Fowler       Canyon del Oro/Oro        High School
                                  Valley, AZ                Senior
    2007-08  Kenzie Fowler       Canyon del Oro/Oro        High School
                                  Valley, AZ                Junior
    2006-07  Ashley Brignac      John Curtis Christian     Univ. of Louisiana
                                  School/River Ridge, LA    - Lafayette
    2005-06  Kirsten Shortridge  Keller/Keller, TX         LSU
    2004-05  Dani Hofer          Palm Harbor Univ./        LSU
                                 Palm Harbor, FL
    2003-04  Anjelica Selden     Vanden/Fairfield, CA      UCLA
    2002-03  Lisa Dodd           University City/          UCLA
                                  San Diego, CA
    2001-02  Alicia Hollowell    Fairfield/Fairfield, CA   U.S. National Team
    2000-01  Cat Osterman        Cypress Falls/Houston,    U.S. National Team
                                  TX
    1999-00  Tia Bollinger       Mater Dei/Santa Ana, CA   Univ. of Washington
                                                            Graduate
    1998-99  Maureen LeCocq      Chaminade Prep/West       Stanford Univ.
                                  Hills, CA                 Graduate
    1997-98  Amanda Freed        Pacifica/Garden Grove,    U.S. National Team
                                  CA

SOURCE Gatorade