Nicole "Nikki" Myers (born July 31, 1980) is an American former All-American, right-handed hitting softball pitcher from St. Petersberg, Florida who played for the FAU Owls from 1999-2002. She owns numerous school records in both offense and pitching categories and is one of select players to ever strike out 1,000 batters and hit 50 home runs.
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Myers was named the 1999 FAU Female Athlete of The Year as well as earning her first All-A Sun citation. Her doubles, home runs (led the conference) and on base percentage totals were all new school records and her RBIs and slugging percentage were merely second best. All those records still rank top-5 all-time for a season.[1]
On March 16, 1999, Myers tallied her first career no-hitter against the Hartford Hawks.[2]
As a sophomore, Myers tossed 4 no-hitters with one on March 17, 2000, where she struck out 17 in regulation to defeat the Rutgers Scarlet Knights for a career high.[3] Again earning conference distinctions, Myers added Player of The Year honors.
Myers broke school season records for ERA (0.80), stirkeouts (325), strikeout ratio (10.4) and shutouts (12, another conference record).[4] On the offensive side, she added 11 home runs and posted a new walks record with 38.[5]
Along with a no-hitter and identical conference honors, Myers was awarded as a Second Team All-American.[6] She broke her own ERA, strikeouts and strikeout ratio records. Two remain the records at FAU, the ERA (led the A-Sun) and strikeout ratio (led the NCAA). At the time, her 25 wins and 258.0 innings were second all-time for the Owls.[7]
Achieving her best batting average, RBIs and home run totals, Myers would also set the school records for slugging (.757%) and on base percentages (.534%) as well as walks at 57.[8]
During the conference tournament on May 4, 2001, Myers struck out a career, school and conference record 25 Stetson Hatters in a 1-0, 3-hit victory at the end of 15 innings.[9] The game total, as well as the combined total (39) with pitcher Kelli Lightner, both rank third all-time repectively for the NCAA Division I.[10]
Myers' senior campaign saw 4 no-hitters, with one a perfect game on February 24, 2002 vs. the Southern Illinois Salukis.[11] For the third straight year Myers earned All-A Sun and A Sun Player of The Year, along with All-American honors.[12] She broke and set school records with 36 wins (led the NCAA), 19 shutouts, 294.0 innings pitched and 437 strikeouts, all except the innings are also conference records.[13]
Her batting average, hits, doubles, home runs, walks, slugging and on base percentages were and still are top-5 for an FAU season.[14]
On April 5, Myers hit a two-run jack off Kristi Montgomerey of the Mercer Bears to nab the 50th of her career while throwing a no-hitter and ending the game on a mercy rule RBI single.[15]
Myers would leave FAU as the career record holders in at least 16 categories for both hitting and pitching, of which her strikeouts, ERA, shutouts and innings pitched survive as conference standards, while 10 others rank top-10 all-time.[16][17]
Myers made her debut with the Akron Racers on June 1, 2004 in a loss vs. the Texas Thunder, though she did not start the game.[18]
On August 12, Myers tossed a no-hitter against the Arizona Heat.[19] It was the fourth that season.
While serving as an assistant coach for the Michigan State Spartans, Myers was ceremoniously inducted into the FAU Hall of Fame on October 28, 2006.[20][21]
| YEAR | W | L | GP | GS | CG | SHO | SV | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | 24 | 10 | 39 | 30 | 28 | 5 | 2 | 225.2 | 163 | 87 | 66 | 94 | 211 | 2.05 |
| 2000 | 22 | 7 | 34 | 29 | 28 | 12 | 0 | 218.0 | 101 | 32 | 25 | 44 | 325 | 0.80 |
| 2001 | 26 | 13 | 42 | 28 | 25 | 11 | 1 | 258.0 | 113 | 34 | 21 | 75 | 403 | 0.57 |
| 2002 | 36 | 7 | 51 | 41 | 39 | 19 | 5 | 294.0 | 159 | 41 | 29 | 79 | 437 | 0.69 |
| TOTALS | 108 | 37 | 166 | 128 | 120 | 47 | 8 | 995.2 | 536 | 194 | 141 | 292 | 1376 | 0.99 |
| YEAR | G | AB | R | H | BA | RBI | HR | 3B | 2B | TB | SLG | BB | SO | SB | SBA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | 69 | 195 | 31 | 70 | .359 | 46 | 12 | 2 | 17 | 127 | .651% | 29 | 28 | 1 | 3 |
| 2000 | 74 | 204 | 39 | 61 | .299 | 39 | 11 | 2 | 11 | 109 | .534% | 38 | 43 | 4 | 5 |
| 2001 | 67 | 173 | 40 | 65 | .375 | 49 | 19 | 2 | 5 | 131 | .757% | 57 | 21 | 1 | 1 |
| 2002 | 75 | 201 | 34 | 74 | .368 | 40 | 12 | 0 | 16 | 126 | .627% | 52 | 21 | 0 | 1 |
| TOTALS | 285 | 773 | 144 | 270 | .349 | 174 | 54 | 6 | 49 | 493 | .638% | 176 | 113 | 6 | 10 |