ASU softball's Freeman a finalist for National Player of the Year

By foxsports
Updated Mar. 4, 2020 12:29 p.m. ET

TEMPE, Ariz. -- For the third consecutive season, Arizona State senior Amber Freeman has been named as one of 26 finalists for the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year, as announced by the Amateur Softball Association and USA Softball on Wednesday.

The senior catcher and designated hitter out of Lakewood, Calif., (Mater Dei HS) has long cemented herself as one of the elite hitters in ASU history and one need look no further than the numbers to establish that.

At 52 career home runs, Freeman is one of four Sun Devils in program history to eclipse the 50-dinger mark and currently sits fourth all-time in the category. Her 185 career RBI are sixth in program history and her 241 hits sit eighth in program lore. That's not to mention her 44 career doubles, a tally that ranks tied for fourth in the Devil record books.

A two-time All-American and the 2013 Pac-12 Player of the Year, Freeman has been making the most of her senior campaign.

Her .431 season batting average is 50 points higher than any other player on the team while she leads the way with 11 homers and is second on the squad with 39 RBI.  Freeman has 14 doubles on the season, a career single season best and currently tied for the 11th-most in ASU single season history.

Were the season to end today, Freeman's .431 average would be the sixth-best single season mark in Sun Devil history and her career .383 average would rank third all-time.

Additionally, Freeman is currently one of the hottest players in the country and perhaps the hottest player in the Pac-12 since the start of conference play. 

In 12 games since Pac-12 action began, Freeman is batting an incredible .595 (22-for-37 with five home runs and 15 RBI along with a  team-leading five doubles. She's walked eight times to just two strikeouts and has a .652 on-base percentage along with a monstrous 1.054 slugging percentage.

Her .565 average in eight Pac-12 games, along with her 1.130 slugging and .645 on-base percentage lead all conference players in league games.

And with all the offensive numbers, it could be easy to overlook Freeman's presence in the classroom. But that's certainly worth mention as the 2014 Academic All-American continues to boast well over a 3.00 GPA in health sciences. A two-time Pac-12 All-Conference selection, Freeman was one of 30 candidates for the 2015 Senior CLASS award.