Former GB Women’s Fastpitch Team pitcher Stacie Townsend, who is already a member of the British Softball Federation Hall of Fame, will be one of five athletes inducted into the Hall of Fame at her American college, the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), in ceremonies to take place in October.
UTEP has been inducting former students into its Athletic Hall of Fame annually since 2002.
College career
Stacie, who played softball while studying at UTEP from 2007-2010, was a finalist for NCAA Woman of the Year during her senior year and her 2010 honours also included Louisville Slugger/NFCA Division I Player of the Week and ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America First Team. She was a recipient of the NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship and the C-USA Jim Castañeda Postgraduate Scholarship.
A two-time first team All-Conference USA selection in 2008 and 2010, Stacie owns UTEP career records for ERA (2.80), wins (64), complete games (72), shutouts (11), innings pitched (722.1) and strikeouts (802). She also hit .319 with 33 home runs and 124 RBIs during her college career. As a senior in 2010, she posted 25 victories with a 2.54 ERA while also batting .367 with 11 home runs and 33 RBIs.
Stacie graduated from UTEP Summa Cum Laude with a bachelor's degree in business, went on to law school at the University of Iowa and is currently working as a commercial lawyer in Florida.
GB career
Stacie Townsend played for the GB Women’s Team from 2005 through 2012, and played for Great Britain in three World Championships, two Softball World Cups, four European Championships and the Canada Cup.
A 17-year-old high school student when she first joined the team in 2005, Stacie was pitching and winning games by the following year in the ISF World Championships in Bejing, helping the GB Team, which had entered on a wild card, to a surprising 10th place finish.
From 2009 through 2012, Stacie was the team's top pitcher and hitter and her work ethic, game awareness, sense of humour and support for her teammates was at the core of the team's success. The GB Women came second in European Championships in 2009 and third in 2011, qualifying for World Championships in 2010 and 2012, where they finished on both occasions as the 11th best team in the world.
In an era when world-class pitchers achieve much of their success with sheer speed, Stacie was different – and a joy to watch. Her success came from movement on a variety of pitches, subtle changes of speed and the ability to out-think opposing hitters, often tying them up in knots.
In her final tournament for the team, the 2012 ISF World Championships in Whitehorse, Canada, Stacie pitched a no-hitter against Chinese Taipei, finished second in batting in the tournament, led all pitchers in innings pitched and strikeouts and made the tournament’s All-World Team.