Amanda Freed

Last updated

Amanda Freed
Biographical details
Born (1979-12-26) December 26, 1979 (age 43)
Fountain Valley, California, U.S.
Playing career
1999–2002 UCLA
2005–2007 Texas/Rockford Thunder
2008 Chicago Bandits
2008Denso
Position(s)Pitcher
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
2008 Virginia
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
Awards
  • 2× first-team NFCA All-American (1999, 2002)
  • 4× first-team All-Pac-10 (1999–2002)
Medal record
Women's softball
Representing the Flag of the United States.svg  United States
Olympic Games
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2004 Athens Team competition

Amanda Louise Freed (born December 26, 1979) is an American, former professional softball utility player and pitcher. [1] [2] [3] She played college softball for UCLA, winning the national title for the Bruins in the 1999 Women's College World Series. [4] [5] In two other national runner-up finishes, she was also named All-Tournament in all her appearances at the world series. [6] She later won a gold medal with Team USA at the 2004 Summer Olympics. [7] [8] In 2005, Freed joined the National Pro Fastpitch and played until 2008 for the defunct Rockford Thunder. [9] She also served as a coach for Virginia.

Contents

Early life and college career

Born in Fountain Valley, California and raised in nearby Cypress, Freed went to Pacifica High School in Garden Grove. As a pitcher in high school, Amanda won numerous awards, including the Gatorade National Female Athlete of the Year and Gatorade Softball Player of the Year. As a senior in high school, Freed was rank the top pitcher in the world and even threw five perfect games.

As the top softball recruit in 1998, Freed decided to attend UCLA where she played for the UCLA Bruins softball team from 1999 to 2002. [10] To this day (2018) Freed stats at UCLA are impressive. Freed holds records in the top 10 for eight categories of pitching and eight categories of hitting.

International playing career

Freed played for a number of years as part of the for the United States women's national softball team , winning gold at the Canadian Cup and World Cup in 2002, the team won gold at 2003 Pan American Games, 2004 Summer Olympics, and 2006 World Cup of Softball. [11] Amanda was also an alternate at the 2000 Olympics, where the team won gold. Making the team in 2004, Freed made four appearances contributing a double and scoring three runs. [12]

Professional playing career

From 2005 to 2008, Freed played for National Pro Fastpitch, first with the Texas (later Rockford) Thunder from 2005 to 2007 then with the Chicago Bandits Cowles Cup championship team in 2008. [13]

Post-playing career

In 2008, Freed was an assistant coach at Virginia under Eileen Schmidt. [14]

In 2009, Freed was a personal trainer for Reese Witherspoon during filming for the movie How Do You Know , in which Witherspoon played a softball player. [15]

Freed later became a softball color commentator for FSW, ESPN and Pac-12 Network. [11]

College Statistics

[16] [17] [18] [19]

YEAR G AB R H BA RBI HR 3B 2B TB SLG BB SO SB SBA
1999692275081.35721111298.431%1229910
2000581793556.31319231583.463%18301317
2001592004563.3152733987.467%22241618
2002642105262.29531141486.409%20151313
TOTALS250816182262.3219871150354.435%72985158
YEAR W L GP GS CG SHO SV IP H R ER BB SO ERA WHIP
1999274353231153211.21243729631870.960.88
2000288383227120234.21365242962461.250.99
2001214272517111152.0701510281570.460.64
200221427272290165.1883122471700.930.82
TOTALS972012711697474763.24181351032347600.940.85

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References

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  2. "2001 NSCA Division I All-America Teams". NFCA.org. Retrieved February 26, 2021.
  3. "2002 NSCA Division I All-America Teams". NFCA.org. Retrieved February 26, 2021.
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  5. "UCLA WCWS Stats 1999". NCAA.org. Retrieved February 26, 2021.
  6. "Division I Championships" (PDF). NCAA.org. Retrieved February 26, 2021.
  7. "Amanda Freed". Teamusa.org. Retrieved March 3, 2021.
  8. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Amanda Freed". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on April 18, 2020.
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  10. "Amanda Freed". UCLABruins.com. UCLA. Archived from the original on December 17, 2002. Retrieved October 14, 2018.
  11. 1 2 "Pac-12 networks On-Air Personalities". pac-12. Archived from the original on June 27, 2018. Retrieved June 27, 2018.
  12. "2004 Olympic Games". Teamusa.org. Retrieved March 3, 2021.
  13. "Live Stats by 805stats.com". 805stats.com. Retrieved May 2, 2023.
  14. "Amanda Freed Named Assistant Softball Coach". University of Virginia. September 11, 2007. Retrieved June 26, 2018.
  15. Smith, Marcia C. (December 14, 2010). "O.C.'s Amanda Freed gives Reese Witherspoon game". Orange County Register. Retrieved June 26, 2018.
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