Callahan, Huff on preseason player watch

Tennessee senior Tonya Callahan and sophomore Tiffany Huff have been chosen along with 48 other others to the annual preseason watch list for the prestigious USA Softball National Collegiate Player of the Year award.

The list is comprised of 50 players representing 34 schools and 14 different NCAA Division I Conferences. The ASA will announce the 25 finalists for the honor on April 9. A player does not have to appear on the initial watch list to be considered as a Top 25 selection, but once the Top 25 is named the remaining finalists must be selected from that list.

Just days before the start of postseason play, a group of 10 finalists will be named and released on May 7. The final three will be announced May 21 while the winner of the 2008 USA Softball National Collegiate Player of the Year Award will be introduced prior to the start of the 2008 NCAA Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City.

Tennessee pitcher Monica Abbott was the recipient of the 2007 USA National Player of the Year trophy on the basis of an outstanding season during which she recorded a 50-5 mark with a 0.68 ERA and a national single-season record 724 strikeouts. During the year the Salinas, Calif., native also broke the career NCAA records for wins, appearances, innings pitched, shutouts and strikeouts while guiding the Big Orange to a national runner-up finish at the Women’s College World Series.

Today’s mention marks the second consecutive season that Callahan has been chosen among the initial 50 players on the USA Softball National Player of the Year Watch List. A two-time Louisville Slugger/National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) All-American (2006, 2007), first-team NFCA All-South Region choice (2006, 2007) and first-team All-Southeastern Conference selection (2006, 2007), Callahan enters the new campaign fresh off a junior season during which she hit .385 with 16 doubles, a triple, 11 home runs, 60 RBI and a team-best .651 slugging percentage for the national runner-up Lady Vols. Callahan owns the Tennessee career home run mark with 35 total HR’s and has knocked in 133 runs over her last two campaigns combined. She drove in two or more RBI in 16 games in 2007 and enters this year second in UT softball history in slugging percentage at .592, third in career RBI with 179 (just 25 from breaking the school mark), fifth in on-base percentage at .442, sixth in total bases with 358, seventh in doubles with 40, eighth in hits with 211 and 10th in career batting average at .349.

A member of the SEC All-Freshman Team in 2007, Huff hit .339 with 11 doubles, a triple and 58 RBI despite missing 10 games due to an ankle injury. The Saugus, Calif., native has started all 61 games of her brief career and did not commit an error last season in 247 total chances as a utility player at catcher, first base and in the outfield. Her 58 RBI were the most by a Tennessee freshman since UT entered the Southeastern Conference in 1997. Huff also drew 19 walks, scored 31 runs and stole seven bases, while knocking in two or more runs in 16 contests. Included was a career-best five RBI in a 9-0 (5 inn.) win over #12 Hawai'i in the opening game of the NCAA Super Regionals. She also recorded a four-game streak with at least two RBI over Feb. 18-22, 2007, with highs of four in wins over Loyola Marymount and UC Davis. On the international level, Huff played this past summer on the U.S. Junior National Team that won the Junior World Championship in Enschede, Netherlands, and the gold medal at the Junior PanAm Qualifier in Caguas, Puerto Rico.