Courtney Poole, a junior pitcher from the University of North Georgia, was named the softball nominee for the Class of 2015 Division II Honda Athlete of the Year as announced by Executive Director Chris Voelz of THE Collegiate Women Sports Awards (CWSA) presented by Honda.

She is now designated one of 11 finalists for the prestigious DII Honda Athlete of the Year honor. This will be voted on at the end of the academic year by national balloting among 1,000 NCAA member schools as part of THE CWSA program, now in its 39th year.

“We’re very proud of the tremendous year that Courtney Poole had in the circle for us,” UNG head coach Mike Davenport said. “She deserves every honor bestowed upon her after helping lead our school to its first-ever national championship. This recognition by the CWSA as a finalist for the Honda Award is the culmination of a lot of hard work that Courtney put in during the off-season.”

Poole was named the inaugural DII National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) National Player of the Year and led North Georgia to the school’s first-ever national championship title. Her two-hit shutout performance in the title game raised her win total to 47 on the season setting a single-season school record for wins and her 47 victories led the NCAA in all divisions.

Hailing from Watkinsville, Ga., she is a first-team NFCA and Daktronics All-American and was also named the Daktronics/NCAA Division II Collegiate Commissioners Association Ron Lenz Pitcher of the Year. In addition, she was the Peach Belt Conference (PBC) Pitcher of the year and a member of the PBC All-Conference first-team.

She finished the season tied for second nationally in shutouts (17) and ranked third nationally in ERA (0.98) and strikeouts (366).

All sports nominees from DII and DIII become a finalist for the prestigious 2015 Honda Collegiate Athlete of the Year in their respective divisions, presented in June. The sports nominees are recognized in 11 DII and DIII NCAA-sanctioned sports; cross country, basketball, field hockey, golf, lacrosse, soccer, softball, swimming & diving, tennis, volleyball, and track & field.

THE Collegiate Women Sports Awards has honored the nation’s top NCAA women athletes for 39 years, recognizing superior athletic skills, leadership, academic excellence and eagerness to participate in community service.   Since commencing its sponsorship in 1986, Honda has provided more than $3.0 million in institutional grants to the universities of the award winners and nominees to support women’s athletics programs at the institutions.