Bahl Named Top Three Finalist for Player of the Year

Nebraska softball pitcher and utility player Jordyn Bahl was named a Top 3 finalist for the USA Softball/ESPN Collegiate Player of the Year, the organization announced on Monday. Bahl is the first Husker to be a top-3 finalist for the award, and she is a top-3 finalist for the first time after being a three-time top-10 finalist.

 

The other two finalists are Arkansas’ Bri Ellis and Texas Tech’s NiJaree Canady, the reigning Collegiate Player of the Year. 

 

A Papillion, Neb., native, Bahl continues to rack up the accolades, as she was named both the Big Ten Player of the Year and the Big Ten Pitcher of the Year. She was the first player in the conference's history to earn both of those awards in the same season. She also was a member of the All-Big Ten first team. Bahl has also been a two-time national player of the week this spring, and she has won six Big Ten weekly awards, including five pitcher-of-the-week honors and one player-of-the-week award.

 

Bahl is the first Husker in school history to record 15 doubles and 15 home runs in the same season. She also became the second Husker to record 60+ runs, hits and RBIs in a season. Bahl has 23 home runs, 69 runs scored and 41 extra-base hits on the season, all of which are program-record marks. With 23 home runs and 25 wins in the circle, Bahl is one of five players in NCAA history to have 20+ home runs and wins in the same season.

 

At last weekend’s Baton Rouge Regional, Bahl went 5-for-5 with four home runs, seven walks, eight runs and seven RBIs at the plate, while going 2-0 in the circle, allowing just one run and two hits in 12.0 innings with 16 strikeouts.

 

At the plate, the junior has notched 69 runs, 76 hits, 66 RBIs, 16 doubles, 2 triples and 23 homers on a .475 batting average. She has only struck out 14 times and has a slugging percentage of 1.031 and an on-base percentage of .568. 

 

In the circle, Bahl has an ERA of 1.50 and a record of 25-6 across 186.11 innings pitched. She has struck out 270 batters and allowed only 40 earned runs. 

 

Bahl ranks in the top 10 nationally offensive in slugging percentage, runs per game, batting average, extra-base hits, hoem runs per game and on-base percentage while also ranking in the top 10 nationally in the following pitching categories: opponent batting average, hits allowed per seven innings, strikeouts per seven innings, shutouts, wins, ERA and complete games.

 

The winner will be announced on Tuesday, May 27 at the athlete’s banquet prior to the Women’s College World Series.

 

USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Top-3 Finalists
Jordy Bahl, P/UTL, Nebraska
NiJaree Canady, P, Texas Tech
Bri Ellis, INF, Arkansas