Louisiana's senior ace hurler was a Top 10 finalist for the award during the 2004 season

LOUISIANA La. - Louisiana's Lady Cajun softball ace pitcher Brooke Mitchell will enter her senior season listed as one of the top players to watch during the 2005 NCAA Division I softball campaign.

Mitchell, who led the nation in victories (45) and shattered the Louisiana single-season and career strikeout marks with 524 strikeouts en route to first-team Louisville Slugger/National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) All-American honors, has been selected to the watch list for the fourth-annual USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Award.

The Pasadena, Texas, native was a Top 10 finalist for the national award during the 2004 season. Mitchell, the 2003 Sun Belt Conference and Louisiana Pitcher of the Year, was the only player from the Sun Belt named to the initial watch list.

Last season, Mitchell posted a 45-5 record - accounting for 75 percent of the Ragin' Cajuns 60 victories - and posted double-digit strikeouts in 29 outings on her way to the fourth-highest total in NCAA Division I history (524). The eight-time Sun Belt Pitcher of the Week, Mitchell also tossed five complete-game, no-hitters including one of Big 12-member Missouri, and had five complete-game one-hitters in 2004.

Mitchell enters the 2005 season 33 strikeouts shy of becoming the 28th player in NCAA Division I history to reach 1,000 career strikeouts - she currently has a Louisiana career record 967. The senior is poised to become the first Ragin' Cajuns player to reach the milestone and would join the likes of Courtney Blades, Britni Sneed, Sarah Dawson, Jocelyn Forest, Keira Goerl, Cat Osterman and Jennie Finch as members of softball's elusive club.

This prestigious honor is presented by the Amateur Softball Association, the National Governing Body of Softball in the United States, and USA Softball. The accolade, considered the Heisman Trophy in women's collegiate softball and the only national player of the year hardware, is designed to recognize outstanding athletic achievement by female collegiate softball players across the country.

The watch list is comprised of 40 players that represent 23 colleges and 10 different collegiate conferences. A list of 25 finalists will be announced on April 5. A player does not have to be on the watch list to be considered for the top 25, but once the Top 25 is named, the remaining finalists must be pared down from that list.

Just days before the start of post-season play, a list of 10 finalists will be named and released on May 10th while the three finalists will be announced on May 31st. The winner of the 2005 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Award will be announced at the 2005 NCAA Women's College World Series in Oklahoma City.

Past winners of this award include UCLA's Stacey Nuveman, Texas pitcher Cat Osterman and Florida State's Jessica Van der Linden.

Mitchell and her teammates will begin the 2005 season on Friday, Feb. 4 with a 6 p.m., game against SEC-member Ole Miss at the Ragin' Cajuns Softball Park. The game is part of the 2nd Annual Louisiana's Mardi Gras Classic which runs Friday-Sunday, Feb. 4-6 at Ragin' Cajuns Softball Park.

LOUISIANA SI