Softball's Raven Cole named NJCAA National Pitcher of the Year
LSU Eunice softball freshman Raven Cole has been named the NJCAA Division II National Pitcher of the Year after helping the Lady Bengals to their third National Championship in program history in her first season on campus.
She becomes the first National Pitcher or National Player of the Year in the softball program's nine-year history, and the fourth player named either a National Player or National Pitcher of the Year overall in the history of the LSU Eunice Athletics.
Last week, Cole was named as a NJCAA All-American, earning her spot on the listing as a pitcher on the First Team after helping the Lady Bengals to a 64-3 season in the circle, as well as at the plate, as LSU Eunice won their second consecutive national championship.
"Raven was a major part of our success this season with her dominance in the circle. She also carried us on the final day of the national tournament by throwing the majority of the three games and leading us to another National Championship," head coach Andy Lee said.
Entering the final day of the national championship needing three wins, the Lady Bengals turned to Cole, who tallied back-to-back wins to force the final game for the championship. The right-hander was named to the All-Tournament team following her performances over the national tournament week.
Cole collected 27 wins inside the circle in her freshman campaign, the fifth-most in the country this year, while striking out 217 batters to set a LSU Eunice program records and tally the third-most in the nation in that category.. She pitched 166.2 innings in 2014 while finishing with a 1.09 ERA, the eighth-best in the country.
At the plate, she collected five doubles and 10 home runs while driving in 73 RBIs to finish with a .319 batting average, a .438 on-base percentage and a .613 slugging percentage.
As a team, the Lady Bengals final record of 64-3 set a school-high for most victories in a season for any sport, while their 28-game winning streak also set a new benchmark for future teams. Offensively, they set new program-bests in batting average (.389), runs scored (553), total hits (702, doubles (169) and total RBIs (489). In the circle, they notched new bests in team ERA (1.08) and total strikeouts (428).
LSU Eunice also finished with new program highs in several team categories, including doubles (153), triples (17), RBIs (432), and runs scored (525), while their team batting average of .365 tied the team record as well.
