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Hosfield earns national award; Spigner honored in California
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A pair of Tennessee softball signees have received major honors.
Pitcher Cat Hosfield of Murfreesboro Riverdale High School was chosen as the National High School Coaches Association High School Senior Athlete of the Year and Jessica Spigner of Valencia High on Santa Clarita, Calif., received the Gatorade Player of the Year for softball in the state of California.
Hosfield, one of 20 athletes selected as National High School Athletes of the Year in varying sports, will also be inducted into the NHSCA National High School Hall of Fame in Easton, Pa. She earned the award despite missing the majority of her senior season with a broken left ankle. Still she was 9-1 with a 0.26 ERA and 124 strikeouts. During her junior year, Hosfield set the national high school record with 659 strikeouts.
Spigner, a third baseman forced into pitching duty, threw every pitch for her Valencia over 236 innings this season while recording 12 shutouts, 222 strikeouts, an ERA of 0.62 and a perfect game. She also led the state of California in pitching victories (29), complete games and innings thrown despite not having pitched competitively since junior high school.
Spigner hit .480 with a .575 on-base percentage and a .930 slugging percentage with seven doubles, a triple and 12 home runs.
© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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Posted by richvol on June 13, 2008 at 8:19 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Great signees...let's go back to beating Florida and Alabama.
Posted by rockytopron on June 26, 2008 at 10:13 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Looks like this past year's 50 win season & SEC player of the year was a "down" year for UT.
The future looks bright for UT to be the first SEC team to win it all!
Posted by JessieZona on July 14, 2008 at 8:14 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Hey,.....I was reviewig the Softball coaches and was wondering WHO would be the TOP3??
This is some of the inputs that I received.
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The purpose of this thread is to bring to light the remarkable accomplishment of Mr. Mike Candrea. And it is these accomplishments and the more to come which will entrench the SOFTBALL coach as a LEGEND.
This type of individual has mastered the tactical aspects of softball.
His growth has lead him to the mental aspect of softball.
There are very few coaches in any sport which have master the physical,tactical aspects of their respective sports. It is only the LEGENDS ,in any sport, which transcends the coaching into the mental aspect.
Any individual in sports or has youngsters in sports would benefit from listening and understanding the thoughts of a forthcoming LEGEND. His thinking goes beyond softball.
The building of the LEGEND.
In order to obtain a baseline perspective, lets review the National Championships, WCWS.
Arizona has 8 National Championships. All with Coach Mike.
Some argue that the Cats have 9 due to the 1995 situation.
Nevertheless, the most Championships since 1982 are held by UCLA ,with 10.
If the future hold true, the Arizona Wildcats with Coach Mike will hold the record for most National Softball Championships.
Moreover, in only 21 seasons at Arizona, Coach Mike has a 83% winning percentage and 1131 wins.
Coaching Legends:
A true test of one accomplishment is how one compares to the other greats.
First, everyone knows of coach Wooden. Coach Wooden coached for 27 years and won 10 NCAA National Championships and four undefeated seasons. The winning percentage is at 82%.
The other most recent Coach is Pat Summitt. Coach Summitt will be coaching her 35 season and has won 8 NCAA National Championships. Coach Pat is the all-time winnest coach in basketball HISTORY with 983 wins and a winning percentage of 84.3%.
From viewing these numbers, Coach Mike surely belongs in the company of these coaches. In the next ten years, Coach Mike will entrench himself as the COACH LEGEND. A feat that will NOT be accomplished by any other coach.
The next ten years will determine if any other coach will ever surpass these winning indicators.
Posted by walkoff on July 21, 2008 at 1:36 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Spigner wins a BIG award - EA Sports National Player of the Year and is 1st team All-American.
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