- Danielle Henderson
-
Medal record Women's softball Competitor for the 
United StatesOlympic Games Gold 2000 Sydney Team competition Danielle Henderson (born January 29, 1977) is an American former All-American right-handed softball pitcher from Commack, New York. She played for the UMass Minutewomen from 1996 to 1999 and was an Olympic champion for Team USA softball at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. She was also a pro champion playing four years in the National Pro Fastpitch from 2004 to 2007.
Contents
UMass
Freshman: Henderson began her career by making All-Atlantic 10 honors and claiming Rookie of The Year. She also broke the top-10 for UMass history for her 0.96 ERA, 23 wins and 11 shutouts.
She threw her first no-hitter on May 12 vs. the Marist Red Foxes.
Sophomore: Henderson would earn her first All-American and Atlantic 10 Pitcher of Year awards as well as tossing two no-hitters and breaking the UMass season records for strikeouts (335), innings pitched and strikeout ratio. Her 25 wins and 15 shutouts were at the time both second best in school history.
On April 26, 1997, Henderson struck out a school and career best 18 Fordham Rams in regulation, this now ranks third all-time for a single game.
The UMass Minutewomen made it to the Women's College World Series on Henderson's arm but failed to win a game.[1] However, Henderson was selected to the All-Tournament Team.
Junior: Throwing 5 no-hitters (one perfect game vs. the Fordham Rams on March 29, 1998) earned her all-season honors from conference and the NCAA. Henderson broke four school records with her 30 wins, 430 strikeouts, 23 shutouts (still the record) and double-digit strikeout ratio (12). In addition, she also cracked the top-10 NCAA Division I season records with her strikeouts, shutouts and second best all-time strikeout ratio mark, which currently ranks 6th all-time
A return trip to the Women's College World Series ended by shutout as the Minutewomen lost their second game to Oklahoma State Cowgirls.[2]
Senior: Henderson posted 6 no-hitters, two perfect games and repeated all-season honors, including a First Team All-American highlight and her third straight Atlantic 10 Pitcher of The Year. Henderson won 30 games, struck out a school and conference record 465 batters (which led the nation) and tied the best season ERA mark of 0.39 at UMass. Her strikeout ratio of 14 set a new NCAA season mark that is now 6th all-time. Her 105 scoreless innings streak from March 16 - May 2, 1999 remains an NCAA record.
Henderson closed her career at UMass with the best strikeouts, ERA, shutouts, wins and strikeout ratio numbers ever, of which she still owns the first three.
In May 1999, Henderson was awarded the Honda Sports Award as the best softball player in the country.[3]
2000 Olympics
Henderson began playing for Team USA the summer after she graduated in 1999. On July 29, 1999, Henderson threw a perfect game defeating Colombia 9-0 at the start of the Pan American Games.
She competed at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney where she received a gold medal with the American team.[4] Her only game was a 3-0 win over Cuba.[5]
National Pro Fastpitch
Henderson began playing with the rejuvenated National Pro Fastpitch in 2004 with the now defunct Arizona Heat. She currently ranks top-10 in career strikeouts and wins. In 2005, Henderson made the All-NPF East Team.[6]
Although she did not play, Henderson also won a NPF Cowles Cup Championship with the defunct New England Riptide on August 28, 2006.[7]
Honors
In 2001, while serving a second term as Assistant Coach, the University of Massachusetts-Amherst ceremoniously retired Henderson's #44 jersey.[8] In her last season with her the Minutewomen, Henderson was also inducted into the New England Women's Hall of Fame on September 24, 2002.[9]
On October 9, 2009, Henderson was honored with an invitation into the UMass Hall of Fame.[10]
Since 2007, Henderson had been working putting on softball clinics before joining the coaches of the Adelphi Panthers. She left and joined the Ohio State Buckeyes in 2009.
Career Statistics
University of Massachusetts Minutewomen
YEAR W L CG SHO SV IP H R ER BB SO ERA 1996 23 8 24 11 0 197.2 124 56 27 76 113 0.96 1997 25 15 35 15 3 272.0 147 60 31 62 335 0.80 1998 30 8 33 23 2 256.0 112 38 26 84 430 0.71 1999 30 4 33 22 0 234.0 72 15 13 40 465 0.39 TOTALS 108 35 125 71 5 959.2 455 169 97 262 1343 0.71 Arizona Heat & New England Riptide
YEAR W L GS CG SV IP H R ER BB SO ERA 2004 8 4 14 9 1 94.2 62 32 22 49 83 1.63 2005 9 10 18 8 3 123.0 85 56 35 55 150 1.99 2006 7 4 14 3 1 82.0 83 41 33 53 64 2.81 2007 7 4 9 5 0 68.2 57 23 19 32 68 1.95 TOTALS 31 22 55 25 5 368.1 287 152 109 189 365 2.07 References
- ^ http://web1.ncaa.org/ncaa/event.do?championship=400022&division=400022400012&event=400749
- ^ http://web1.ncaa.org/ncaa/event.do?championship=400023&division=400023400012&event=400800
- ^ http://awards.honda.com/?p=8&year=1999
- ^ "2000 Summer Olympics – Sydney, Australia – Softball". databaseOlympics.com. http://www.databaseolympics.com/games/gamessport.htm?g=25&sp=SOF. Retrieved 2008-10-31.
- ^ http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/he/danielle-henderson-1.html
- ^ http://profastpitch.com.ismmedia.com/ISM3/std-content/repos/Top/STATISTICS%20FOLDER/TEAM%20NPF%20ARCHIVES/05%20West%20ALL%20STAR%20Roster.pdf
- ^ http://www.profastpitch.com/news/teamsnews/index.html?article_id=688
- ^ http://www.umass.edu/umassmag/archives/2001/winter2001/sydney.html
- ^ http://www.umassathletics.com/sports/w-softbl/spec-rel/092602aaa.html
- ^ http://www.umassathletics.com/sports/w-softbl/spec-rel/081709aaa.html
Categories:- 1977 births
- Living people
- American softball players
- Olympic softball players of the United States
- Softball players at the 2000 Summer Olympics
- Olympic gold medalists for the United States
- UMass Minutewomen softball players
- Olympic medalists in softball
- Female softball players
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