LOUISIANA La. – Louisiana’s Lady Cajuns senior first baseman Lacey Bertucci is one of 50 student-athletes nationally listed on the Amateur Softball Association’s preseason watch list for the 6th Annual USA Softball National Collegiate Player of the Year award.

Bertucci, a three-time All-Sun Belt Conference selection, continues the Ragin’ Cajuns’ tradition of having a player named to this prestigious list. Former All-American pitcher Brooke Mitchell was a nominee in 2004 and 2005 while All-American outfielder Danyele Gomez was on the list last season.

This award, which is considered one of the most prestigious honors in women’s collegiate softball, is designed to recognize outstanding athletic achievement by female collegiate softball players across the country. Past winners of this award include UCLA’s Stacey Nuveman (2002), Florida State’s Jessica Van der Linden (2004) and Texas’ Cat Osterman (2003, 2005, 2006).

The 2007 Sun Belt Conference Preseason Player of the Year, Bertucci ranked 10th in the nation with 19 total home runs in 2006. She ranked second in Sun Belt with 57 RBI – most RBI amongst all first basemen – third in runs (51) and fourth in total bases (128).

She has hit double digit home runs in each of the past two seasons and enters the 2007 season third in school history with 44 career home runs. Bertucci has 35 multiple-hit and 38 multiple-RBI games in her career.

She has played in 191 career games – starting in 190 – for the Ragin’ Cajuns and is on the verge of setting a school record for most games played should the 2007 UL squad play 59 games.

The ASA will announce the 25 finalists on April 4. A player does not have to appear on the initial watch list to be considered as a Top 25 finalist, but once the Top 25 is named the remaining finalist must be selected from that list.

Just days before the start of post-season play, a list of 10 finalists will be named and released on May 9. The final three finalists will be announced May 23 while the winner of the 2006 USA Softball National Collegiate Player of the Year Award will be announced prior to the start of the 2007 NCAA Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City.

The 2007 ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Pre-Season Poll will be announced on Tuesday, January 30.


LOUISIANA SI