OKLAHOMA CITY – Junior Alana Vawter was named to the preseason watch list for the USA Softball Player of the Year award, the organization announced on Wednesday. Vawter is one of nine players from the Pac-12 on the preseason watch list.
Vawter is coming off an outstanding sophomore season after leading the Cardinal in every statistical category in the circle. The Kansas City, Mo., native went 22-11 with a 1.54 ERA in 200 innings of work and was the pitcher of record in 33 of Stanford's 55 games. Vawter struck out 156 batters on the year with seven shutouts in 22 complete games.
Her 22 victories made her the first Cardinal pitcher with at least 20 victories since Madi Schreyer accomplished the feat in 2014. Vawter was one of five Power-5 pitchers to have at least 20 victories and a 1.23 or lower ERA during the 2021 regular season.
Due to the extra year of eligibility offered to all spring sport athletes, Vawter was classified as a freshman eligibility-wise. She was named to the Pac-12's all-freshmen and all-first team – the first Cardinal to be named to the first team since 2015 – in addition to being named to the NFCA's All-West Region first team.
Stanford will open the 2022 season at the SDSU Kickoff Classic, Feb. 10-13, in San Diego, Calif.
