Danielle Lawrie

Danielle Elaine Lawrie (born April 11, 1987) is a Canadian, former collegiate All-American, medal-winning Olympian, professional All-Star softball pitcher and current sports commentator.

A week later on March 7, Lawrie garnered her 1,000th career strikeout in a win over the Alabama Crimson Tide.

After another week, Lawrie combined with Morgan Melloh of the Fresno State Bulldogs for 31 strikeouts in an 11-inning win for the Huskies on March 14.

In the NCAA tournament, Lawrie and the Huskies won their region with a 15-inning, 6–1 victory over the UMass Minutewomen on May 18.

She played summer ball for the White Rock Renegades for five years under coach Rick Sullivan, and was named the MVP of the 2005 Canadian National Team.

After graduating from Brookswood, she went on to the University of Washington, becoming the first Canadian on the team.

Lawrie began her career by being named to the then Pac-10 2006 Second Team.

She broke the Husky season record for strikeouts and strikeout ratio.

On February 10, Lawrie debuted with a run-rule win over the Oklahoma Sooners, striking out 7 batters and later threw her first career perfect game on February 26 vs. the Utah Valley Wolverines.

On March 16, Lawrie combined with Cat Osterman for 32 strikeouts in a regulation game, a top-10 NCAA record for a single game, the Huskies lost 3–0.

In another 11-inning battle, she and teammate Caitlin Noble combined with Katie Burkhart of the Arizona State Sun Devils to strike out 42 batters.

This was another NCAA record for combined strikeouts overall.

In an April 26 win, Lawrie struck out 19 of the No. 1 UCLA Bruins, her first victory over a top-ranked team.

In her next start, she set yet another record for combined strikeouts in a loss to the Sun Devils when she struck out 19 batters again, combining with Katie Burkhart for 34 strikeouts; the game was especially notable because it was the highest combined total for a 7-inning game.

Finally, on May 12, Lawrie lost another extra inning game to the California Golden Bears and combined with Kristina Thorson for another 32 strikeouts at 14 and 18 respectively.

As a sophomore, Lawrie earned National Fastpitch Coaches Association First Team All-American and Pac-10 First Team selections.

She broke her own strikeouts and strikeout ratio (still tops and career best: 11.5) records; she was ranked and still does in the top-5 for her school season marks in wins, shutouts and innings pitched; the strikeouts and wins were also top-5 for the NCAA year.

Lawrie also had a career high in doubles and threw a no-hitter.

In a win over the South Florida Bulls on February 18, Lawrie struck out a school and career high 20 batters in 7 innings to tie her for second highest in an NCAA regulation game.

The Huskies made it to the Women's College World Series and Lawrie responded by tossing a no-hitter over the DePaul Blue Demons on May 31.

They were semifinalists before being eliminated by eventual champions the Arizona Wildcats on June 3.

For her junior campaign, Lawrie repeated honors from the NFCA, as well as being named Pac-10 Pitcher of the Year, USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year, and winning the Honda Sports Award for softball.

Lawrie set school records for her season wins, strikeouts, WHIP, and innings (career highs), leading the NCAA in all except WHIP.

Her shutouts, ERA, and strikeout ratio were and remain in the top-10 for a Husky season.

They also ranked in the top-10 for an NCAA season and helped Lawrie win a Pac-10 pitching Triple Crown.

She also threw two no-hitters.

Lawrie currently plays for the Canada women's national softball team, including during the 2008 Summer Olympics, and the 2020 Summer Olympics, where she won a bronze medal.

Her younger brother, Brett, a former major league baseball player with the Toronto Blue Jays, Oakland Athletics and Chicago White Sox, began playing with the Canadian national junior team at the age of 15, and played for Team Canada in the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Her older sister named Nicole died in an accident when she was only 5, before Brett was even born.

She and Brett have special tattoos in her memory.

She attended Brookswood Secondary School, where she lettered in softball, also helping the team to three league championships.

She was named Most Valuable Player in her freshman and senior years, and was a first team All-Star four years and team captain three times.

In addition to softball, Lawrie also lettered in basketball.

Lawrie played college softball at Washington, in which she was part of the 2009 Women's College World Series championship team and was named Most Outstanding Player.

Beginning on February 7, 2009 with a win over Loyola Marymount Lions, Lawrie achieved a 64.1 consecutive scoreless innings streak.

The Portland State Vikings snapped it on March 1 when they scored in the third inning.

During the streak, Lawrie won all 11 games (7 complete) and struck out 112, allowing only 15 hits and 11 base on balls for a 0.40 WHIP.

From 2010 to 2014 and in 2019, Lawrie played for the USSSA Pride and Canadian Wild of National Pro Fastpitch (NPF) and was an NPF All-Star in 2011 and part of two Cowles Cup league championship teams in 2013 and 2014.

She owns numerous records for the Huskies as well as the Pac-12, where she is the career leader in strikeouts, and ranks fourth all-time in the NCAA Division I.

Danielle, the daughter of Cheryl and Russ Lawrie, grew up and currently resides in Langley, British Columbia.