Central College softball pitcher Mariah Fritz is a nominee for the NCAA Woman of the Year Award. Established in 1991, the award recognizes graduating female athletes who have distinguished themselves in academics, athletics, service and leadership throughout their college careers. Fritz, an integrated studies major, graduated with a 3.80 cumulative grade point average. She was the American Rivers Conference co-pitcher of the year and a two-time league pitcher of the week. She also received academic all-league honors as well as 2018 CoSIDA academic all-district recognition and received the Easton/NFCA All-America Scholar-Athlete Award. Central’s LeRoy Timmer Most Valuable Player Award winner, Fritz was 20-9 with two saves in 32 appearances. She threw 172.0 innings, which ranks ninth in school history, and posted a 3.58 earned run average. Fritz helped lead Central to a 27-10 mark, the program’s 13th conference title and a record 30th NCAA Division III tournament berth. A record 585 athletes were nominated by NCAA member schools for the Woman of the Year Award, including 192 from Division III. Seven previous Central nominees have advanced to represent the state or the conference at the national level. The most recent was women’s track and field athlete Jill Ziskovsky in 2011.