The Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum gives out awards every year to the top college players in football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, and baseball. But there’s never been an award for softball. According to an official with the Hall, that’s about to change.
Nick Crutcher, a member of the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum Board of Directors, revealed on Tuesday’s episode of SuperTalk Eagle Hour that “in the next year or so” a new award will be dedicated to the best college softball player in the state.
“We’re going to have a trophy for outstanding women’s softball player,” Crutcher said. “It’s going to be named after Courtney Blades.”
Blades, who pitched for Southern Miss from 1999-2000, is a perfect choice for the trophy’s namesake. She not only led the Golden Eagles to back-to-back College World Series appearances but received the Honda Award as the National Softball Player of the Year in 2000. In 2012, she became the first softball player to be inducted into the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame.
According to Crutcher, Blades has already approved of her name being used on the trophy.
“When I called her and told her that we want to name it after her, oh man, she was fired up,” he said. “They’ll do a bronze sculpture of her and that will be presented by the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and the Choctaw Indians.”
