Oklahoma State University Athletics
Lauren Bay Named Oklahoma NCAA Woman of the Year
September 16, 2003 | Cowgirl Softball
The award honors outstanding female student-athletes who have excelled in academics, athletics and community leadership, and have completed their collegiate athletics eligibility.
Ten finalists will be selected from the state winners in late September and the NCAA Woman of the Year will be announced at the 2003 NCAA Woman of the Year dinner Saturday, Nov. 1 at the Indianapolis Marriot Downtown.
Bay compiled an impressive list of honors on and off the field in her four years at OSU, capped by All-America status from the National Fastpitch Coaches' Association. Bay scattered her name throughout the record books, holding the top spot in six categories and breaking into the top 10 in three others.
The Trail, B..C, Canada, native had an outstanding senior season, compiling a 26-10 record on the mound while leading the Cowgirls to a runner-up finish in the Big 12 regular season race and their first NCAA Regional appearance since 1998. their collegiate athletics eligibility.
Bay recorded 1,151 career strikeouts at Oklahoma State, becoming the only Cowgirl in the program's rich history to hit the millennium mark. She also set the season strikeout record for the second consecutive season, fanning 451 batters during her senior campaign and averaging 12.7 Ks per game.
During her final season, Bay was a four-time Big 12 Pitcher of the Week, earned all-conference accolades for the fourth time in her career and was named the Big 12 Player of the Year.
Bay was selected to the all-tournament team at three of OSU's five tournaments this spring, earned MVP honors at the Speedline Invitational, and was a Top 10 finalist for the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year.
Bay excelled in the classroom as well, as she earned Verizon Academic All-America accolades her senior season, was a three-time member of the Academic All-Big 12 first-team, a four-time winner of the OSU Academic Achievement Award and was listed on the Big 12 Honor Roll in each of her eight semesters at OSU.
Although Bay is no longer a Cowgirl, her softball career has not ended. Over the summer she competed with the Canadian National Team at the World Championships and will represent Canada in the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece.
