Megan Good Named Finalist for National Player of the Year

JMU Softball had a disappointing end to its season last weekend, bowing out of the tournament with a loss to Baylor. But everyone associated with the program got a much needed pick-me-up yesterday. Megan Good was named one of the 3 finalists for the 2017 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year. Not, CAA player of the year, regional player of the year, or some sort of sliced and diced non-P5 player of the year. But the actual honest to goodness National Player of the Year. It’s kind of a big deal.

Joining Megan as finalists are Kelly Barnhill, as sophomore pitcher from Florida, and Meghan Gregg, a junior infielder from Tennessee. All three nominees are well deserving. Good, as you all know, was lights out from the circle and from the plate all season. She amassed a 38-3 and 0.63 ERA as a pitcher. She also had a 70.1 inning scoreless streak and 14 shutouts. Pretty good year even without considering her batting. But we must, so it’s worth noting she also hit .383 with 12 homers.

Barnhill and Gregg put up similarly gaudy numbers. Barnhill lead the nation with a 0.35 ERA for the #1 overall seed Florida Gators. Gregg was the SEC player of the year and lead that league in pretty much any offensive stat you can think of. She can rake. It’s anyone’s guess who will actually win the award, but there’s no doubt that all 3 had amazing seasons and are deserving of the honor.

Good still has one more season left and she’s already going down as an all time great JMU athlete. If next year is anything close to (or better than) this year, she could cement herself as the JMU G.O.A.T. But that’s not something to worry about now. Just another reason to look forward to more JMU sports next year.