Nicole Newman (born October 1996) is an American, former collegiate All-American, right-handed batting professional softball pitcher, originally from Madison, Wisconsin.[1][2] She attended La Follette High School in Madison.[3] She later attended Drake University, and suited up for Drake Bulldogs softball team, where she owns numerous records.[4] She is also the Missouri Valley Conference career leader in no hitters, perfect games, strikeouts and strikeout ratio; the latter also ranking top-10 in all the NCAA Division I.[5][6][7][8] In her senior year, Newman threw five perfect games during the 2019 NCAA Division I softball season to lead Drake softball to a Missouri Valley Conference softball title and a berth in the 2019 NCAA Division I softball tournament.[9][10][11] After graduating from college, Newman was selected by the Aussie Peppers of National Pro Fastpitch in the third round of the 2019 NPF Draft.[12] Currently she is a part of the Minnesota Golden Gophers softball coaching staff.[13]

Nicole Newman
Personal information
NationalityAmerican
BornOctober 1996 (age 27)
Height6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Sport
CountryUSA
SportSoftball
College teamDrake Bulldogs

Drake University edit

Newman debuted for the Bulldogs on February 7 with a 6 inning shutout and 8 strikeouts.[14] She was also named MVC Freshman of The Year. Her sophomore year, Newman would earn MVC Pitcher of The Year. Newman took a redshirt year the next season to recover from an injury. In 2018, she returned and on March 30 she nabbed three hits at the plate for a career highlight against the Bradley Braves.[15] Newman pitched a no hitter vs. the SIU Salukis on April 7.[16] A week later, Newman threw a second no hitter and set a career best with 18 strikeouts against the Valparaiso Crusaders.[17] She would earn her second Pitcher of The Year honor.

For her final year and facing the Furman Paladins on February 13, Newman belted two home runs to drive in 7 RBIs for her career single game high.[18] Newman later began a career best 23 consecutive wins streak on March 13 to May 11; she threw 134.0 innings surrendering 32 hits, 7 earned runs and 18 walks to post a 0.36 ERA and 0.37 WHIP. She tossed the first of an NCAA record setting season 5 perfect games on March 30, defeating the Indiana State Sycamores with 15 strikeouts.[19] On April 6, Newman joined the 1,000 strikeouts club winning against Valparaiso and tallied 12 strikeouts for the occasion.[20] From April 9 when she ended a win over the UNI Panthers with 2.1 scoreless innings to begin 43.0 consecutive until April 28 when the Missouri State Bears scored in the second inning of another victory for Newman. During the streak she allowed 10 hits, 6 walks with 91 strikeouts and 0.37 WHIP.[21] These would help her to a third Pitcher of The Year award from the conference.[22]

Statistics edit

Drake Bulldogs edit

YEAR W L GP GS CG SHO SV IP H R ER BB SO ERA WHIP
2015 13 5 26 20 12 5 2 133.1 92 42 36 61 175 1.89 1.15
2016 22 13 37 32 26 4 1 220.0 189 114 93 90 286 2.96 1.27
2017 7 3 12 8 5 2 2 55.0 28 21 10 19 94 1.27 0.85
2018 22 5 29 26 15 9 1 157.2 77 24 20 36 245 0.89 0.72
2019 29 7 46 31 28 14 5 221.2 85 45 34 45 423 1.07 0.59
TOTALS 93 33 150 117 86 34 11 787.2 471 246 193 251 1223 1.71 0.91

References edit

  1. ^ "2018 Louisville Slugger/NFCA Division I All-America Teams". Nfca.org. Retrieved October 16, 2020.
  2. ^ "2019 Louisville Slugger/NFCA Division I All-America Teams". Nfca.org. Retrieved October 16, 2020.
  3. ^ Semrau, Dennis (July 17, 2013). "Madison La Follette's Nicole Newman selects Drake University to play softball". Wisconsin State Journal. Archived from the original on July 20, 2019. Retrieved July 20, 2019.
  4. ^ "All-Time Records" (PDF). Godrakebulldogs.com. Retrieved October 15, 2020.
  5. ^ "MVC Softball Records" (PDF). Mvc-sports.com. Retrieved October 15, 2020.
  6. ^ "Division I Softball Records" (PDF). Ncaa.org. Retrieved October 16, 2020.
  7. ^ Birch, Tommy (May 16, 2019). "How Drake pitcher Nicole Newman became one of the best in the NCAA". The Des Moines Register. Retrieved July 20, 2019.
  8. ^ Pease, Joshua (May 14, 2019). "Nicole Newman follows Christ, leads Drake softball into playoffs with fifth perfect game of 2019". Sports Spectrum. Archived from the original on July 20, 2019. Retrieved July 20, 2019.
  9. ^ Russell, Jake (May 11, 2019). "Softball pitcher sets NCAA record by firing fifth perfect game of the season". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on July 20, 2019. Retrieved July 20, 2019.
  10. ^ Baer, Jack (May 11, 2019). "Drake softball pitcher sets NCAA record with fifth perfect game of the season". Yahoo Sports. Archived from the original on July 20, 2019. Retrieved July 20, 2019.
  11. ^ "Newman sets NCAA record with 5th perfect game". ESPN. May 11, 2019. Retrieved July 20, 2019.
  12. ^ Rucker, Elgin (April 17, 2019). "Drake's Nicole Newman selected 13th overall in NFP College Draft". KCCI. Archived from the original on July 20, 2019. Retrieved July 20, 2019.
  13. ^ "Nicole Newman". Gophersports.com. Retrieved October 16, 2020.
  14. ^ "SOFTBALL SPLITS PAIR OF GAMES ON SECOND DAY OF UNI DOME TOURNAMENT". Godrakebulldogs.com. February 8, 2015. Retrieved October 15, 2020.
  15. ^ "Softball Opens Home Schedule with Doubleheader Sweep over Bradley". Godrakebulldogs.com. March 30, 2018. Retrieved October 15, 2020.
  16. ^ "Softball Sweeps Southern Illinois in Doubleheader". Godrakebulldogs.com. April 7, 2018. Retrieved October 15, 2020.
  17. ^ "Dominant Pitching Helps Softball in Sweep of Valparaiso". Godrakebulldogs.com. April 15, 2018. Retrieved October 15, 2020.
  18. ^ "Softball Splits on First Day of Plainsman Invitational". Godrakebulldogs.com. February 15, 2019. Retrieved October 15, 2020.
  19. ^ "Newman Throws Perfect Game in Home Opener". Godrakebulldogs.com. March 30, 2019. Retrieved October 15, 2020.
  20. ^ "Softball Sweeps Saturday's Doubleheader at Valparaiso". Godrakebulldogs.com. April 6, 2019. Retrieved October 15, 2020.
  21. ^ "2019 SOFTBALL SCHEDULE". Godrakebulldogs.com. Retrieved October 15, 2020.
  22. ^ "Softball Collects Multiple All-MVC Awards". Godrakebulldogs.com. May 8, 2019. Retrieved October 16, 2020.

External links edit