Charlotte, NC - Florida SouthWestern's Belle Sardja has been named the 2023 NJCAA DI Softball Pitcher of the Year.
The NJCAA First-Team All-America selection earns this prestigious honor after leading the Buccaneers to their second consecutive NJCAA DI Softball World Series national title. In 175 innings played this year, Sardja has 121 strikeouts with 8 shutouts. Sardja is tied for third place in the nation in Earned Run Average (0.88), fourth place in saves (5), and top-10 in wins (25).
Head Coach Robert Iamurri on Sardja- "Belle is the model of what every coach's dream player to coach is. She is an incredible student and an amazing athlete. No matter what our game plan was going into a game, Belle could execute it perfectly, which is what gave her and us as a team so much success the past two seasons. She is the ultimate team player, with everything she does, centered around what is best for the team, not necessarily herself. Case and point, she only started 2 of our first 7 games of the season this year because we needed to develop the rest of our pitching staff, and not once did she ever bring a complaint up to our coaching staff, but instead, was 100% behind the rest of her pitching staff members, working with and cheering for them to perform to the best of their abilities."
Sardja was named the 2023 NJCAA DI Softball World Series Most Oustanding Pitcher after being named the Tournament MVP in the 2022 World Series. She was also named the 2023 TUCCI/NFCA National Pitcher of the Year and is now only the third Florida SouthWestern player in program history to be named the NJCAA DI Softball Pitcher of the Year.
Athletic Director George Sanders on Sardja- "Belle has been an absolute pleasure to have on our campus the past two years. She is the epitome of a student-athlete, excelling both on the field and equally in the classroom. Watching her lead us to a pair of National Championships the past two seasons has been a great experience and we are lucky that she won't be too far away the next two years at USF so we can continue to watch her there."
Sardja is closing out her career with the Buccaneers with a 1.05 ERA, which places her in the Florida SouthWestern history books with the best ERA in program history. The 2x NJCAA National Champion sophomore out of Tampa, FL will be furthering her academic and athletic career in her hometown at the University of South Florida next year.