INDIANAPOLIS, IN - The National Collegiate Athletic Association Committee on Women's Athletics announced on Tuesday (June 27) that recent Salem International University graduate
Kayla Lynch (Painesville, Ohio/ Riverside) is on the list of nominees for the prestigious NCAA Woman of the Year award.
NCAA press release
The NCAA Woman of the Year award honors graduating female student-athletes who have distinguished themselves throughout their collegiate careers in the four pillars of excellence in academic achievement, athletics ability, service and leadership. Student-athletes are nominated only once in their career by their school. There are a record 543 nominees for this year's NCAA Woman of the Year consideration, and Lynch is one of just 64 softball players across all-three divisions to be nominated.
In April, Lynch completed her career as a four-year member of the SIU softball team and totaled 27 wins with 52 complete-games and four shutouts under her belt. In 2015-16, Lynch recorded 14 wins for the Tigers while tallying two shutouts and helping the team to a 23-win season. Her performance over the course of the season would earn her Division II All-Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) laurels. Lynch also garnered Second-Team All-G-MAC honors after ranking in the top five in wins (14), earned run average (2.91), strikeouts (100) and opponent's batting average (.265).
The Tigers would punch their ticket to the Great Midwest Athletic Conference in each of the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons with Lynch in the circle. SIU would also set a single-season record for most wins in recent program history by notching its 23rd win in post-season play.
Lynch would etch her name into the SIU record books on April 15, 2017 by tossing a perfect game at home against Bluefield State. She needed just 74 pitches to complete perfection, fanning eight batters in the process. The perfect game for Lynch was SIU's first dating back to 1981 when Lisa Aten tossed 2 no-hitters for Salem College.
Lynch graduated this spring with a bachelor of science degree in business administration (magna cum laude). She was also the President of the SIU Student Government Association (SGA) and delivered the senior class speech at commencement.
The selection committee will choose the top 10 honorees in each division, and announced in early September. From among those 30 candidates, the selection committee will determine the top three in each division to be released later that month. Finally, the members of the Committee on Women's Athletics will vote from among the top nine finalists to determine the 2017 NCAA Woman of the Year.
The top 10 honorees from Divisions I, II and III, including the nine overall finalists, will be honored, and the 2017 NCAA Woman of the Year winner announced, at a dinner Oct. 22 in Indianapolis.
