Ball State University Athletics
Softball's Milian Candidate for Lowe's Senior CLASS Award
February 10, 2010 | Softball
Elizabeth Milian (Grand Blanc, Mich./Grand Blanc H.S.), a senior member of the Ball State University softball team, has been selected as one of 30 candidates for the 2010 Lowe's Senior CLASS Award for the sport of softball.
An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School, the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities. To be eligible for the award, the student-athlete must be a senior softball player at an NCAA Division I school and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence -- classroom, character, community and competition.
The 30 candidates will be narrowed to 10 finalists midway through the regular season and those 10 names will be placed on the official ballot. Lowe's, an official corporate partner of the NCAA, will announce the Senior CLASS Award winner at the NCAA Women's College World Series in June.
Milian is the only student-athlete from the Mid-American Conference on the list of 30 candidates and is one of only two players from universities in the state of Indiana.
Milian, the 2009 MAC Pitcher of the Year and Nan Harvey Sportswoman of the Year, owns a 3.941 grade-point average on Ball State's 4.0 scale as a secondary mathematics education major. She tallied a 21-15 pitching record last season and was named to the All-MAC and National Fastpitch Coaches Association first teams. A member of the Academic All-MAC team two straight years, Milian was also named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District First Team last season.
Milian set the Ball State single-season record with 204 strikeouts as a junior and is tied for the school record with six career saves. She ranked second in the MAC in wins (21), innings pitched (224) and complete games (27) as a junior plus held opponents to a .214 batting average, which ranked third in the league.
She helped the Cardinals to the school's first-ever MAC Regular Season Championship in 2009, and a school best 18-3 conference mark.
Ball State, under the direction of fourth-year head coach Craig Nicholson, begins the 2009 season Feb. 19, ranked No. 38 in the country in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Preseason Collegiate Poll. The Cardinals open the season at the Phyllis Rafter Memorial Tournament in Kennesaw, Ga. Ball State will face Tennessee Tech and Western Illinois Feb. 19, while also playing Mercer, Kennesaw State and Southern Illinois at the event.
