Inside the ACC: Florida State’s Waldrop named Finalist for Player of the Year

Florida State junior pitcher Lacey Waldrop as she was named as one of the three finalists for the 2014 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year as announced by The Amateur Softball Association (ASA) of America and USA Softball on Wednesday. The Chester, Va., native has already been named the 2014 ACC Pitcher of the Year and was honored on the 2014 ACC All-Tournament Team and the 2014 NCAA Tallahassee All-Regional most valuable player.

Sierra Romero from Michigan and Ally Carda of UCLA are the other two players named as finalists for the award. The winner of the 2014 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Award will be announced on May 27 at the team only banquet just prior to the start of the NCAA WCWS.

Waldrop leads the NCAA with 36 wins and is second in the country with a 0.90 ERA. Her 36 wins sets a new FSU single-season record and she now has now has 79 which is tied for fifth in program history. She ranks in the top-40 nationally in strikeouts (274 – 14th), hits per seven innings (4.44 – 16th) and strikeouts per seven innings (7.9 – 38th).

Waldrop has been named ACC Player of the Week seven times in 2014 to set an ACC record and was named NFCA National Player of the Week on March 4. She has six wins against top-25 opponents this season with a 1.48 ERA, 61.2 innings pitched, 57 strikeouts and 18 walks against ranked opponents.