Cougar softball player receives national award
9/18/2003 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Sept. 18, 2003
Amber King, the University of Houston Softball team's lone senior in 2003, recently received the National Fastpitch Coaches Association Academic All-America Scholar Athlete Award for 2002-2003.
Head coach Kyla Holas said King being recognized for her academics is nice to see, because the work she did in the classroom was not seen on the softball field.
"I'm happy for her because it's something she worked very hard at," Holas said. "She was very dedicated to her studies and graduating on time, so I'm very proud she was rewarded for her efforts. Sometimes, in her case especially, off-the-field things didn't get noticed as much."
King started 19 games for the Cougars in 2003, batting .284 with a .432 slugging percentage and a .920 fielding percentage. In 2002 King was a key player off the bench for Houston, batting .310 with a .586 slugging percentage. She had her best game of her junior season against Prairie View A&M, going 2-3 with two home runs and four RBI.
During her junior season she also earned a Conference USA Commissioner's Academic Medal for having a GPA of 3.75 or better.
King's award is the first award of its kind to be received by a Cougar softball player. Holas said it is nice to have a player recognized at such a young program.
"Not only the prestige, but the honor of it is pretty huge for us; and it happed within four years," Holas said. "In the third year of our program we're having someone being noticed both academically and athletically which is a really good testament to the direction this program is headed in and the expectations we expect and require for our student athletes."