Emily Watson

Classroom

Emily Watson is on track to graduate in May 2018 and has been an outstanding student at the University of Tulsa. She is a three-time American Athletic Conference All-Academic honoree and holds a 3.25 GPA in business management. She has been named to the dean’s list five times and the Athletic Director’s Honor Roll six times. She also was a participant in the University of Tulsa Research Colloquium in the Mechanical Engineering Department, and she recently interned at a tax firm in California to gain valuable experience for the future.

Character

A team captain, Watson is a leader both on and off the field at The University of Tulsa, where she also serves her fellow student-athletes as a member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.

From Tulsa Head Coach John Bargfeldt: “Emily came in as a humble player who was wanting to learn, and she had a senior mentor pitcher who helped her along. She wanted to be a top-level Division I pitcher. There were some things that she needed to improve, and she went to work, improved her pitches, added some pitches, and through that hard work she developed into a top-flight pitcher. That work ethic and that desire to get herself in the best condition possible has put her in a position where, as a senior, she’s a leader and mentoring a couple of young pitchers that she’s taken under her wing, trying to get them to understand what it takes. Emily is someone who works hard outside of practice, as well. She’s the type of pitcher whom position players will ‘sell-out’ for. She never plays the blame game, either verbally or by her expressions out there. She’s a rock in the circle. When things go wrong she just buckles down and gets the job done. When you have a pitcher that has that type of attitude, position players just want to sell themselves out to do their best behind her. That just makes for better team defense behind her.”

Community

Watson has been active in the community during her time at The University of Tulsa. She has participated in several events with Lift Up America and Tyson Foods, helping TU student-athletes sort and distribute more than 30,000 pounds of protein to programs serviced through the Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma. She also was a part of TU’s Hurricane Harvey relief efforts, helping to accept donations and load the athletic department’s truck with supplies that were sent to storm victims in Houston and the surrounding area. In addition, she has worked at numerous softball camps and has volunteered at the Tulsa Zoo’s Halloween event for local children.

Competition

Watson has made an incredible impact on the field for the Golden Hurricane in her three seasons. As of nomination time, she had made 90 appearances with 73 starts in the circle and owned a career 1.74 ERA and 50-19 record with 23 shutouts, four saves and 597 strikeouts in 458.1 innings pitched. Her 1.74 ERA and 597 strikeouts both rank second on the school’s all-time charts, while opponents have hit just .203 against her. She has helped TU to three conference titles, a pair of NCAA Regional appearances and an average of 37 wins per season (112 total). She is coming off her best season in 2017, when she earned a slew of awards including NFCA second-team All-America honors, NFCA All-Region Second Team honors, American Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Year and first-team all-conference honors. She was named the Most Outstanding Player at The American Tournament, earned the conference’s Player of the Week award a record eight times during the campaign and earned Louisiville Slugger/NFCA National Pitcher of the Week honors, as well. She went 30-6 with two saves, a 1.25 ERA and 348 strikeouts, and she set school records for most wins (30), shutouts (14, which also led the nation) and innings pitched (246.2). She had at least 10 strikeouts in a game 19 times, and she set school and conference records with 21 punchouts in a 10-inning victory. She was brilliant in conference action with a 10-1 record, 0.78 ERA, 119 strikeouts and an opponent batting average of just .160.