The accolades keep coming for freshman pitcher Shelby Lowe. The National Fastpitch Coaches Association announced on Thursday that Lowe was named a finalist for Freshman of the Year.
Since arriving on the Plains from Carrollton, Alabama, Lowe has done nothing but impress. Her 1.06 ERA is the lowest in the SEC and lowest in program history by an Auburn freshman.
She averages 1.1 walks per seven innings while striking out 8.4 batters per seven innings. Her 159 strikeouts this season rank first among true freshmen in the SEC and fifth overall in the conference.
With six regular-season games and the SEC tournament remaining in 2021, Lowe needs 12 more strikeouts to move her into second all-time among Auburn freshmen. It will also move her into the top 10 for most strikeouts in a single season by an Auburn player, a list that has not changed since 2010.
With the 2020 season being canceled due to COVID-19, the finalists' pool for the award was expanded from 25 members to 30 to include freshmen from both 2020 and 2021. The SEC has more finalists than any other conference with six.
The list will be narrowed down to 10 finalists on May 13. Two weeks later on May 27, the list will be trimmed to the top three before the winner is named on June 1.
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