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Our Featured Player, Laura Brenneman, was named Woman Baseball
Player of the Year on January 18, 2005, by the International
Baseball Federation. |
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Laura Brenneman, shortstop for the Virginia Flames, led the team in batting this
season with a .647 average in the regular season and .667 in post -season
play. Well known for her speed on the base path, everyone in the league
knows that if Laura gets to 1st base with the bases empty, she will be at
third base two pitches later. And if she comes to the plate with runners
in scoring position, the odds are two to one that an RBI is pending. Prior
to joining the Flames in 2004, Laura was the Boxers shortstop and team MVP
for two consecutive years.
Being a standout is nothing new for Laura. At Williams
College, she was a three-sport standout as a goalie in
soccer, a guard in basketball, and a shortstop in
softball. In 2004, Laura was named to the American
Eagles, the U.S. women's national baseball team, for the
third consecutive year. Her Team USA activities took her
to the Women's World Series IV, held in Japan in July,
and to the |
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Laura Brenneman, MVP of the 2004
Women's World Cup of Baseball
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Women's Baseball World Cup in Canada in August. Laura
was selected MVP of the World Cup for her offensive
contributions and near-perfect defense. At the plate,
she hit an outstanding .579 with 10 runs scored and two
RBI. She also recorded a .789 slugging percentage, .680
on-base percentage, and went 5-for-5 in stolen bases. At
second base, Laura recorded 12 putouts and 17 assists,
with only one error. Laura led Team USA to gold in the
World Cup, and to a second-place finish in the World
Series.
When she
is not playing baseball or soccer, Laura's time is devoted to the third
year of her Ph.D. program in Astrophysics at the University of Maryland.
The focus of her research is writing a code to model relativistic emission
lines produced by accretion disks around black holes. After getting her
Ph.D., Laura is thinking about applying to NASA's astronaut training
program.
Laura is indeed a superstar athlete. You can't help but notice that when
you watch her play. But you will also notice that she is a leader on the
field, lifting her teammates with her unwavering enthusiasm and optimism.
Her level of play, positive attitude, and love of the game spill over onto
her teammates and drive them. And if you talk to her, you will find that
Laura accomplishes all of this with extreme humility. Never does she talk
about her achievements. They speak for themselves.
You can read more about Laura, Team USA, and the World Cup
here, and about
the Women's World Series IV
here.
Previous Featured Players:
Renee Hudson
Narda Quigley
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