March 29, 2010
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. – Senior softball player Molly Johnson was selected as one of 10 finalists for the Lowes Senior Class award it was announced Monday. Johnson is one of 10 student athletes tabbed a finalist for an award that honors four areas of excellence – community, classroom, character and competition.
Fans can now help Johnson capture one of the most prestigious awards in sports. Nationwide balloting begins immediately to determine the winner. Fan balloting is available on the award’s official website http://www.seniorCLASSaward.com, as well as through text messaging. Fans can text SOFTBALL to 74567 to vote for the finalists. These votes will be combined with votes from coaches and media to determine the recipient of the award.
An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School, the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities.
Johnson is a senior shortstop for Kentucky and has started every game of her career thus far. She is a kinesiology major and holds a 3.216 grade point average. Twice she has earned SEC Academic honor roll honors and she was a member of the Athletic Director’s honor roll in the spring of 2008. Her career aspirations include becoming a softball coach.
Prior to the 2010 season she was voted as one of the team captains and has served in that roll for two consecutive seasons. Captains are voted on by teammates, coaches and support staff for athletes who represent the University academically, through community service and on the field.
Throughout the community she has logged over 50 community service hours and is a mainstay at all of UK’s softball camps, where she is able to begin developing her coaching skills for life after her playing career.
On top of her prestigious collegiate career where she became UK’s first All-America selection following her junior season she was selected as an alternate to the 2010 USA Softball team in January. This summer she played with Team USA at the Japan Cup.
Arguably the most valuable player in the country to her team, Johnson is a .391 lifetime batter with 93 career extra base hits while starting all 196 games of her career. This weekend Johnson blasted her 32nd career home run to claim the all-time career mark in that category for the Wildcats. She broke the school record in doubles earlier in the season and has tallied 51 two-baggers in her career.
Three times in her career she has had hitting streaks of 10 games, including a 10-game streak in her senior campaign. She has also rattled off a hit in 22 of UK’s last 25 games.
Her storied career also includes a number of spots on UK’s all-time charts. She ranks first in career-batting average (.391), slugging percentage (.671) home runs (32) and doubles (51). Additionally, she ranks second in RBI (128), runs scored (140) and total bases (401). Furthermore, she holds the third slot in the UK records with 453 assists, and the fourth spots with 234 hits and 58 stolen bases.
Lowe’s, an official Corporate Partner of the NCAA, will announce the Senior CLASS Award winner at the NCAA Women’s College World Series in June. The 10 candidates will be placed on the official ballot. Ballots will be distributed through a nationwide voting system to media, coaches and fans, who will select one finalist who best exemplifies excellence in the four Cs of classroom, character, community and competition.
Stay tuned to UKathletics.com for the most up-to-date information about the UK softball team.
