Courtney Blades

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Courtney Blades-Rogers (born May 16, 1978) is a former collegiate All-American right-handed hitting softball pitcher originally from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She attended Belaire High School from 1993-1996. She was a starting pitcher for two NCAA Division I teams: the Nicholls State Colonels and later the Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles. For her career she collected an NCAA Division I 151 wins (second most) and 1,773 strikeouts (fifth most).


Nicholls State Colonels

Blades began her career with the Colonels and earned the 1997 Southland Newcomer of The Year Award.[1] She continued her excellent play to earn both Player and Pitcher of The Year in 1998. Her combined ERA, strikeouts, wins, shutouts and innings pitched stats led the league.[1]

At the close of 1998, Blades two-year career placed her in the top-10 for school records in batting average (.320), shutouts and ERA; her 613 strikeouts set the record.[2]


University of Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles

1999: Junior Year

Blades transferred to Southern Mississippi as a junior to continue working with her relocated head coach Lu Harris. She proceeded to strike out 497 batters, setting a new NCAA Division I season record, eclipsing Michele Granger's previous mark of 484, set in 1993. Her 43 wins, 0.99 ERA, 318.0 innings and 22 shutouts set new school records.[2] The wins were the fourth best total ever in the NCAA as she led the nation that year.[3]

After being honored with First Team All-American honors, Blades led the Golden Eagles to an appearance at the 1999 Women's College World Series.[4] It was a first for the school program and especially notable because it was their reactivation after 7 years of hiatus.[5]

2000: Senior Year

Blades surpassed her own record by reaching 516 strikeouts against the USF Bulls on May 6; she also broke Michele Granger's previous NCAA Division I career strikeout record of 1,640 by reaching 1,643 in the same game.[6]

On March 1, 2000, Blades struck out 18 batters in a 7-inning, 7-1 win against the Samford Bulldogs, her career-high for a regulation game.[7] The performance tied her with the NCAA fourth best (third at the time) regulation game record holders. During the NCAA Tournament to reach that year's Women's College World Series, Blades would notch her career, school and conference record best 21 strikeouts against the LSU Tigers in a 1-0, 13-inning loss on May 20, 2000.[8] The game total was also the tournament record that held until 2004.

At the WCWS, Blades twirled her second season perfect game on May 26. It was the fourth perfect game ever pitched at the World Series.[9] Blades fanned 11 of the No. 2 seeded 2000 NCAA batting champs, the Arizona Wildcats, on opening day to also break the NCAA season wins record.[10][11] Southern Mississippi would end the season with a third place finish at the series and ranked fourth nationally under the command of Blades, who was selected to the WCWS All-Tournament Team.

She finished the season with a total of 663 strikeouts, becoming the first pitcher to break 500 and 600 strikeouts in a season. That mark brought her career total to 1,773, a record that would stand until February 25, 2006 when Texas Longhorns pitcher Cat Osterman passed the mark against the University of Nevada-Las Vegas. Blades would win 52 games in her final season, setting the NCAA Division I single season record.[12] Her ERA, innings pitched and shutouts also reset school records, conference records (excluding ERA), and also placed Blades in the top-5 for inning and shutout records in an NCAA season. Her strikeout ratio of 11.6 led the nation.[13]

Blades would earn All-USA, USA Pitcher of The Year, USA MVP and a First Team All-American citation.[14][15] She also picked up the 2000 Softball Honda Sports Award as the best collegiate player that year.[16] Blades owned the Conference USA career strikeouts crown (1,160 in just two seasons) and now ranks second all-time, while her wins (95), ERA (0.93) and innings (717.2) are all top-5 for a career.


Stratford Brakettes

Blades played with the Stratford Brakettes for one tournament in 2000. She pitched in 5 games with a 2-1 win-loss record, 37 strikeouts, 1 earned run in 24.1 innings, putting her ERA at 0.29.[17] One of the wins Blades pitched was a perfect game with 11 K's against the Decatir Twisters.[18]


Coaching

Blades later served as an Assistant Coach under Lu Harris with the Georgia Bulldogs.


Awards & Honors

On November 4, 2000, Blades was inducted by the Southern Mississippi Director of Athletics Richard Giannini into the newly created Southern Miss Legends Club; other members include Reggie Collier, Brett Favre, Ray Guy, Sammy Winder, Janice Felder, Nick Revon, and Clarence Weatherspoon.[19]

Blades was ceremoniously invited into the Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles Hall of Fame on March 31, 2006.[20]

  • 1997-1998 All-Southland
  • 1998 Southland Player of The Year
  • 1998 Southland Pitcher of The Year
  • 1999-2000 WCWS All-Tournament Team
  • 1999-2000 First Team All-American
  • 2000 USA MVP
  • 2000 USA Pitcher of The Year
  • 2000 Region 7 Most Outstanding Player
  • 2000 Honda Sports Award
  • USA All-Decade Team (2005)[21]


Career Statistics

Nicholls State & Southern Mississippi

YEAR W L GP GS CG SHO SV IP H R ER BB SO ERA
1997 27 14 48 42 27 13 2 288.1 200 60 50 83 303 1.21
1998 29 7 45 34 32 14 3 255.2 117 39 30 81 310 0.82
1999 43 6 56 54 37 22 1 318.0 141 61 45 103 497 0.99
2000 52 7 66 60 46 28 2 399.2 152 61 51 117 663 0.89
TOTALS 151 34 215 190 142 77 8 1261.2 610 221 176 384 1773 0.97


Athletic Accomplishments

  • 1,773 strikeouts fifth most
  • 151 wins second most
  • 77 shutouts (seventh most)
  • 14 career NCAA Division I no-hitters
  • 3 career NCAA Division I perfect games
  • .320 batting average (Nicholls State Colonels)
  • .307 batting average (Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles)


References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 http://www.southland.org/fls/18400/pdf/Softball,%202010.pdf?SPSID=344250&SPID=11059&DB_OEM_ID=18400
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 http://southernmiss.cstv.com/auto_pdf/p_hotos/s_chools/smis/sports/w-softbl/auto_pdf/10-w-softbl-6
  3. ↑ http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/SB_Records/2011/DivI.pdf
  4. ↑ https://nfca.org/index.php/awards/awards-history/3851-1999-di-all-american-teams-
  5. ↑ http://southernmiss.cstv.com/auto_pdf/p_hotos/s_chools/smis/sports/w-softbl/auto_pdf/mg06-records
  6. ↑ http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=bswyAAAAIBAJ&sjid=th4EAAAAIBAJ&pg=6715,954099&dq=blades+breaks+granger's+ncaa+strikeout+mark&hl=en
  7. ↑ http://samfordsports.cstv.com/sports/w-softbl/spec-rel/samf-w-softbl-CummulativeStats.html
  8. ↑ http://web1.ncaa.org/ncaa/event.do?championship=400025&division=400025400113&event=400963
  9. ↑ http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/softball_champs_records/2009/DI/champs.pdf
  10. ↑ http://web1.ncaa.org/ncaa/event.do?championship=400025&division=400025400012&event=400981
  11. ↑ http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/Softball%20Archived%20Stats/2000/D1.txt
  12. ↑ Hinton, Alan (13 June 2010). "Whatever happened to former USM softball legend Courtney Blades?". Hattiesburg American. Retrieved 18 June 2010. 
  13. ↑ http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/Softball%20Archived%20Stats/2000/D1.txt
  14. ↑ http://conferenceusa.cstv.com/auto_pdf/p_hotos/s_chools/c-usa/sports/w-softbl/auto_pdf/history-records
  15. ↑ https://nfca.org/index.php/awards/awards-history/3828-2000-di-all-american-teams-
  16. ↑ http://awards.honda.com/?p=9&year=2000
  17. ↑ http://www.stratfordbrakettes.com/stats_2000.htm
  18. ↑ http://www.stratfordbrakettes.com/review_2000.htm
  19. ↑ http://digilib.usm.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/arc&CISOPTR=2509&CISOBOX=1&REC=19
  20. ↑ http://southernmiss.cstv.com/genrel/121605aaa.html
  21. ↑ http://southernmiss.cstv.com/sports/w-softbl/spec-rel/051005aaa.html
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