Texas Softball: Pitcher Miranda Elish named National Player of the Year

A senior from the Texas softball program, star pitcher Miranda Elish, was just named the National Player of the Year for the 2020 season.

More big-time accolades came the way of the a player in the Texas softball program on April 8. The top college softball team in the nation this year will continue to have plenty of positives to look back on a season that ended too early.

A lot of college sports are having their national player of the year accolades announced this week. Men’s college basketball announced Dayton Fliers forward Obi Toppen as the Wooden and Naismith Award winner recently. And women’s college basketball announced Oregon Ducks guard Sabrina Ionescu as the Wooden Award for the second straight year.

As far as the Texas Longhorns softball program goes, they had a superstar pitcher that would take similar honors back to the Forty Acres this week. Senior pitcher Miranda Elish was named the Softball America Shortened Season National Player of the Year for the 2020 campaign.

The softball team finished up with a record of 24-3 (didn’t get to open their Big 12 slate this season) prior to the novel coronavirus pandemic-induced hiatus last month. Texas would get the top spot in the final Softball America Top 25 Rankings.

Their final game would result in a win over the New Mexico Lobos by the final score of 7-0 on March 7. Their next game was slated to come on March 13 in a double-header against the Bryant Bulldogs and Alabama Crimson Tide.

Elish individually would finish up the season with a record of 11-3, with a 1.25 earned run average, and a team-leading 96 strikeouts. She was also third on the team in on-base plus slugging percentage (1.200), to go along with a .370 batting average, four home runs, 19 runs batted in, and one stolen base.

In this magical senior campaign that was cut short for Elish, she also had two perfect games. She also held the team high for RBI’s in a single game, with six on two occasions. There were numerous occasions that Elish held the individual game high for strikeouts this season too.

The only losses for the softball team this season came at the hands of Duke, Louisiana-Lafayette, and Fresno State. Just prior to the end of the season last month, the Longhorns did knock off No. 2 Washington and No. 1 UCLA.