Andrews takes out top award
White Sox stalwart Lara Andrews – whose sporting journey has taken her from working class Petone to the brink of an American university PhD – has been adjudged New Zealander softballer of the year.
The Hutt Valley infielder, who will help lead the White Sox at the Olympic Games Asia-Oceania qualifying tournament in Shanghai this month, won the overall softballer of the year accolade and the women’s player of the year prize at Softball New Zealand’s awards evening in Christchurch on Saturday night.
Andrews, a Sport New Zealand ambassador, held her audience spellbound as she outlined her colourful career, saying how, as a 15-year-old, she ‘‘didn’t want to talk’’ to White Sox coach Mike Walsh at first when he phoned her grandmother’s home to tell her she had been named in the national team for the first time.
She said missing out on the New Zealand squad for the 2008 Olympic qualifier drilled home to her ‘‘how much I wanted to play for the White Sox’’.
Andrews went to the United States as a bilingual English and Ma¯ ori speaker, who had barely passed high school to take up a two-year scholarship at a native American college in Tupelo, Mississippi ‘‘where Elvis [Presley] was born’’.
She became a straight A student and was later signed by the University of Delaware, a NCAA Division One school where she captained the softball team, made all-star selections and completed a degree. She later attained a Master of Science and Human Development and Family Studies qualification.
Andrews – captain of the White Sox’s 2014 world series team – also became the first New Zealander signed to play in the United States Pro Fastpitch League and had two seasons with the Pennsylvania Rebellion.
Since returning to Wellington, she is working on completing her doctorate. She has captained
Hutt Valley to two successive National Fastpitch Championship titles and led the White Sox at the Asia Pacific Cup international tournament in Sydney last summer.
Softball New Zealand chief executive Tony Giles told Stuff Andrews’ softball pathway was ‘‘an inspiration to all younger players’’, female and male.
Meanwhile, Black Sox shortstop Cole Evans – widely regarded as a future team leader – won the men’s player of the year for his form at the 2018 International Cup tournament in Prague and the 2019 Challenge Cup series in Auckland.