Gatorade National Softball Player of the Year: Kenzie Fowler

    TUCSON, Ariz., June 11 /PRNewswire/ -- In its third decade of honoring
 the nation's best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company, in
 partnership with RISE Magazine, today announced junior pitcher Kenzie
 Fowler of Canyon del Oro High School (Oro Valley, Ariz.) as its 2007-08
 Gatorade National Softball Player of the Year. Fowler becomes just the 10th
 high school junior to win Gatorade National Player of the Year honors (of
 196 honorees) in any sport.
 
     The award, which recognizes not only 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
 the more than 373,000 high school softball players nationwide. Fowler is
 now 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 6-foot junior pitcher, who overcame life-threatening surgery and
 spent eight days in intensive care battling the effects of a grave vascular
 condition last spring, finished 24-1 with a 0.28 ERA, recording 309
 strikeouts in 148.2 innings this season to lead the Dorados (33-4) to the
 Class 4A, Division 1 state championship. She fired four no-hitters as well
 as a perfect game en route to hurling 12 shutouts. Also the Southern
 Arizona Player of the Year as named by the Tucson Citizen and an
 All-Arizona First Team selection as named by the Arizona Republic, Fowler's
 fastball has touched 71 mph, the same speed as University of Arizona legend
 and Olympic Gold Medalist Jennie Finch peaked as a collegian.
 
     A two-time Gatorade Arizona Softball Player of the Year, Fowler also
 produced a .448 batting average, 33 RBI, 14 runs scored and five home runs
 this spring. A roster member of the 2007 USA Softball Junior National Team
 and an EA Sports All-American, Fowler struck out 12 and allowed just two
 hits in Canyon del Oro's 3-2 state title victory against Saguaro in 2008,
 which clinched the program's second straight championship.
 
     As a sophomore, she finished 28-1 with a 0.16 ERA for the state
 champion Dorados, recording 376 strikeouts, four no-hitters and two perfect
 games. No slouch at the plate, Fowler hit .393 with seven home runs, 27 RBI
 and a .663 slugging percentage in 2007.
 
     Fowler has maintained a 3.39 GPA in the classroom. In addition to
 participating in Canyon del Oro's Link Crew peer mentoring program, she
 volunteers in the intensive care unit at University Medical Center in
 Tucson, where she herself was treated, and reads to elementary school
 students as part of a literacy-outreach program. Fowler also donates her
 time by creating video highlight packages for her teammates, as well as
 coaching area youth softball players.
 
     "I haven't known an athlete as good as her," said Dave Thatcher,
 athletic director at Canyon del Oro High. "We did have Bre Ladd (the
 2001-02 Gatorade National Girls Volleyball Player of the Year), but there
 aren't enough words for me to appropriately describe Kenzie. In the bigger
 picture, she's always worried about everyone else on the team. She knows
 the kids backing her up are her key."
 
     Fowler has verbally committed to a softball scholarship to the
 University of Arizona for the fall of 2009.
 
     "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 RISE Magazine, 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 gold medalist Cat Osterman
     * WNBA all-time leading scorer and rebounder Lisa Leslie
     * NFL all-time leading rusher Emmitt Smith
     * 2007 Super Bowl Most Valuable Player Peyton Manning
     * Reigning 200-meter world champion Allyson Felix
     * Beach volleyball gold medalist Kerri Walsh
 
     For more on the Gatorade Player of the Year program, including
 nomination information and lists of past winners and future announcement
 dates, visit gatorade.com/playeroftheyear.
 
 

 
 
        ALL-TIME GATORADE NATIONAL SOFTBALL PLAYER OF THE YEAR HONOREES
 
     Year              Name             High School                Status
 
     2007-08      Kenzie Fowler       Canyon del Oro/            High School
                                      Oro Valley, AZ             Junior
     2006-07      Ashley Brignac      John Curtis Christian
                                      School/River Ridge, LA     Univ. of
                                                                 Louisiana -
                                                                 Lafayette
     2005-06      Kirsten Shortridge  Keller/Keller, TX          Baylor
                                                                 University
     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/San        UCLA
                                      Diego, CA
     2001-02      Alicia Hollowell    Fairfield/Fairfield, CA    Univ. of
                                                                 Arizona Grad
                                                                 U.S. National
                                                                 Team
     2000-01      Cat Osterman        Cypress Falls/Houston, TX  Rockford
                                                                 Thunder / U.S.
                                                                 National Team
     1999-00      Tia Bollinger       Mater Dei/Santa Ana, CA    Univ. of
                                                                 Washington
                                                                 Graduate
     1998-99      Maureen LeCocq      Chaminade Prep/West        Stanford
                                      Hills, CA                  Univ.
                                                                 Graduate
     1997-98      Amanda Freed        Pacifica/Garden Grove, CA  Rockford
                                                                 Thunder / U.S.
                                                                 National Team
 
 

SOURCE The Gatorade Company