SPRINGFIELD, IL --- Recent Illinois Springfield softball standout Amanda Gosbeth, has been nominated for the NCAA Woman of the Year award. A mathematics major with a minor in economics and marketing, Gosbeth concluded her four-year career at UIS with a perfect 4.0 grade point average (GPA) while etching her name across the UIS softball record books.

A native of Carol Stream, Illinois, Gosbeth was named to the 2017 GLVC All-Conference Team, the CoSIDA Academic All-District Team, as well as a CoSIDA Academic All-American. Internally, Gosbeth was named the 2017 UIS Scholar-Athlete of the Year as well as garnering the Universities top athletic honor, being named the Female Athlete of the Year.

A four-time GLVC Academic All-Conference recipient, Gosbeth was also named the Mathematical Sciences Undergraduate Marshal.

In her time as UIS, Gosbeth was a member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) as well as a member of the UIS Hall of Fame Committee. Additionally, she helped raise money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, ran events for the Special Olympics on campus, packed boxes of food for underprivileged children through the Ronald McDonald charity, and was a tutor in the Learning Hub.   

On the field, Gosbeth ended her career fifth in games started (144), seventh in slugging percentage (.484), fourth in runs (86), first in stolen base percentage (54-of-60), fourth in total stolen bases (54), fifth in hits (107), third in doubles (29), fourth in triples (4), second in home runs (16), fourth in runs batted in (69), and fourth in total bases (192).

The recent graduate helped the Prairie Stars reach the GLVC Tournament in three of her four years, become regionally ranked in both the 2015 and 2017 seasons, the latter of which included a UIS record 11-game winning streak.

ABOUT THE WOMAN OF THE YEAR AWARD
The NCAA Woman of the Year award honors graduating female student-athletes who have distinguished themselves throughout their collegiate careers in the areas of academic achievement, athletics excellence, service and leadership. Student-athletes are nominated only once in their career by their school.

The NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics manages the nomination process and selections. In 2016, a record-number 517 female college athletes representing multiple ethnicities and all NCAA-sponsored sports within Divisions I, II and III, were nominated. The Committee on Women's Athletics encourages each member school to honor its top graduating female student-athlete(s) with a nomination.

The top-30 nominations (10 per division) will be announced in early September with the top-nine (three per division) will be announced later that month. The 2017 NCAA Woman of the Year will be announced Sunday, October 22 at an awards dinner in Indianapolis.