On June 16th Kenzie Fowler became the first high school athlete ever to win back to back Gatorade National Softball Player of the Year award. She is also only the sixth athlete in the program's 24 year history to win the Gatorade National Player of the Year honors or than once, joining LeBron James, Greg Odin, Candace Parker, Marian Jones, and Cynthia Barboza! Kenzie will be attending the Espy Awards Ceremony in Los Angeles with her family to receive this prestigious award. She is also a front-runner for the Gatorade National High School Player of the Year Award.
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Press Release
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
Kenzie has been working with ProActive Physical Therapy since 2007. The professionals at ProActive helped to diagnose a life threatening injury that nearly ended her career. They also helped her to rehabilitate and achieve a level of performance which allowed her to win back-to-back state titles with Canyon Del Oro high school.
