Northern Kentucky's Krystal Lewallen to Join the Ragin' Cajuns in 2006

Friday, July 22, 2005

LAFAYETTE – Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns softball program ended the 2005 season with the question of how to replace the productivity of former All-American pitcher Brooke Mitchell. On Friday, co-head coaches Stefni and Michael Lotief found another All-American who may provide some answers for the perennially ranked team.

The Lotief's announced Friday that Northern Kentucky pitcher Krystal Lewallen, the 2004-05 Collegiate Women Sports Awards NCAA Division II Athlete of the Year and NCAA Division II National Player of the Year, has transferred to the program and signed a National Letter of Intent to play softball for the Ragin' Cajuns in the 2006 season.

Lewallen, who wanted to elevate her game to the Division I level after three successful years with NKU, had narrowed her choice down to Louisiana-Lafayette and UCLA.

“I had a great visit and was appreciative of the players who took time from their summer breaks to welcome me to the University,” Lewallen said. “I look forward to the challenge of helping this team compete on the national level.”

“We are excited that Krystal has chosen the Ragin' Cajuns as her new team,” remarked co-head coach Stefni Lotief, a former All-American pitcher herself. “I am glad that everyone at our University welcomed her with open arms and I appreciate the help our administration gave our staff in making this possible. I am honored that she entrusted us as a team to help her reach her goals.”

Lewallen comes to Louisiana-Lafayette from Northern Kentucky University, a participant in the 2005 NCAA Division II World Series. Having already participated in three seasons of collegiate softball (2003, 2004 and 2005 at NKU), she will be classified as a senior on the Cajuns' 2006 roster with one year of college eligibility remaining.

Lewallen, a native of Crestwood, Ky., received first team All-America honors from the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) in 2005 after an outstanding junior campaign in which she posted a 32-1 record and 0.36 ERA in leading Northern Kentucky to a national record 55 straight victories and 55-2 record in 2005. The righthanded hurler struck out 335 batters in 232 1/3 innings and posted 20 shutouts.

“This is a huge signing for our program,” said co-head coach Michael Lotief. “We are getting a person who is very gifted and has had much success at the national level. She's an impact pitcher as evidenced by the fact of her National Payer of the Year honors, record, strikeouts, ERA and being pursued by UCLA. This gives you an indication of what kind of competitor she is - a fierce competitor who wants to win.”

“It's a great day for our program, but we must understand that this is just one piece to the puzzle,” Michael Lotief continued. “We still have other questions to answer before next season begins, but without a doubt this signing has made us better and will give us an opportunity to continue to reach our goals.”

Lewallen held opposing teams to a .118 batting average as she piled up 32 consecutive victories. The ace hurler of the NKU pitching staff, she surrendered only 91 hits and was named the most valuable player of the NCAA Division II Great Lakes Regional.

Twice Lewallen set the NKU single-season record for victories posting 31 as a sophomore in 2004 and 32 this past season as a junior. She leaves NKU as the Norse's career leader in wins (79) and strikeouts (836). Lewallen tossed 668 innings for NKU over the past three years and has a 0.45 career ERA.

In 2005, she became the first NKU performer to ever receive the Collegiate Women Sports Awards NCAA Division II Athlete of the Year honor. The honor was based on the results of national balloting among 1,000 NCAA member schools as part of the Collegiate Women Sports Awards program, now in its 29th year. She was one of 12 sports nominees on the overall ballot – a ballot which represented the elite of nearly 30,000 female student-athletes competing at the NCAA Division II level.

The Ragin' Cajuns, five-time defending Sun Belt Conference regular season champions, will return 11 letterwinners off of last season's 51-10 squad which advanced to the NCAA Regionals.

KRYSTAL LEWALLEN BY THE YEARS

YEAR