CHICAGO (June 9, 2010) – In its 25th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company, in collaboration with ESPN RISE, today announced Lori Spingola of Marist School as its 2009-10 Gatorade Georgia Softball Player of the Year. Spingola is the first Gatorade Georgia Softball Player of the Year to be chosen from Marist School.
The award, which recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field, distinguishes Spingola as Georgia’s best high school softball player. Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Softball Player of the Year award announced in June, Spingola joins an elite alumni association of past state award-winners in 12 sports, including Alicia Hollowell (2000-01, Fairfield HS, Calif.), Derek Jeter (1991-92, Kalamazoo HS, Mich.), Candace Parker (2001-02, Naperville Central HS, Ill.), Abby Wambach (1997-98, Our Lady of Mercy, N.Y.), Mark Sanchez (2004-05, Mission Viejo HS, Calif.), Angela Tincher (2002-03, James River HS, Va.) and Kenzie Fowler (2006-07, Canyon del Oro HS, Ariz.).
The 6-foot senior right-handed pitcher produced a 26-1 record with a 0.03 ERA this past season, surrendering just 25 hits while striking out 435 batters in 192 innings to lead the War Eagles (30-3) to a second straight Class 4A state championship. A three-time First Team All-State selection, Spingola was also chosen as the Class 4A Pitcher of the Year by the Georgia Athletic Coaches Association for the third consecutive season.
Spingola has maintained an unweighted 3.10 GPA in the classroom. She has volunteered locally on behalf of Habitat for Humanity and multiple nursing homes.
"She’s just outstanding, and a real student of the game," said Jerry White, head coach of rival Southwest Dekalb High. "She’s untouchable-excellent fastball, great rise ball and keeps the batters off balance."
Spingola has signed a National Letter of Intent to play softball on scholarship at the University of North Carolina this fall.
The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one winner in the District of Columbia and each of the 50 states that sanction high school football, girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, baseball, softball, and boys and girls track & field, and awards one National Player of the Year in each sport. The selection process is administered by ESPN RISE and the Gatorade high school sports leadership team, which work with top sport-specific experts and a media advisory board of accomplished, veteran prep sports journalists to determine the state winners in each sport.
Spingola joins recent Gatorade Georgia Softball Players of the Year Hope Rush (2008-09, Eagle’s Landing Christian Academy), Kelli Wheeler (2007-08, Lassiter) and Alicia Mills (2006-07, Sequoyah) among the state’s list of former award winners.
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