Madi Cunningham Chosen as 2024 Moravian NCAA Woman of the Year Nominee
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. --- Madi Cunningham, a recent 2024 Moravian University graduate from the softball program, has been selected as the Greyhounds’ 2024 nominee for the NCAA Woman of Year Award.
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. --- Madi Cunningham, a recent 2024 Moravian University graduate from the softball program, has been selected as the Greyhounds' 2024 nominee for the NCAA Woman of Year Award.
Rooted in Title IX and directed by the NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics, the NCAA Woman of the Year program celebrates the accomplishments of female college athletes across all three NCAA divisions with over 220,000 women are competing in college sports.
Eligible female student-athletes are nominated by their member school. Each conference office then reviews the nominations from its core member schools (and sponsored sports) and submits its conference nominee(s) to the NCAA. Then, in September, the NCAA Woman of the Year selection committee identifies the Top 30 – 10 from each division – and from there selects three finalists from each division. The Committee on Women's Athletics then selects the winner from the nine finalists.
Member schools are urged to submit two nominations if at least one of the nominees is a student-athlete of color or international student-athlete. The nomination form is completed by the member school and student-athlete and submitted via the NCAA Program Hub.
All conference-level nominees are forwarded to the Woman of the Year selection committee. The selection committee will choose the top 10 honorees in each division. From among those 30 honorees, the selection committee will determine the three finalists in each division. Finally, the members of the Committee on Women's Athletics will vote from among the top nine finalists to determine the 2024 NCAA Woman of the Year.
Cunningham had a decorated career on the diamond at Moravian and put her name among the list of outstanding members in program history. In just three seasons since she graduated a year early, Cunningham was a three-time Landmark All-Conference honoree, making the First Team in 2022 and 2023 and the Second Team in 2024. She was selected as the Landmark Conference Rookie of the Year in 2022, and she was honored on the National Fastpitch Coaches Association All-Region V Team all three seasons with First Team selections in 2023 and 2024 and the Second Team in 2022.
Cunningham was honored as the Most Outstanding Player of the 2023 Landmark Conference Tournament, the Most Outstanding Pitcher at the 2023 Cambridge (Mass.) NCAA Division III Super Regional and made the NCAA Division III Regional All-Tournament Team in both 2023 and 2024. In her career, Cunningham posted a 53-11 record with one save, 14 shutouts, three no-hitters with one perfect game, 54 complete games, 260 strikeouts, 64 walks and a 2.06 ERA in 425.2 innings of action. Despite playing just three seasons, Cunningham ranks fifth in winning percentage (.828), seventh in victories, eighth in strikeouts and tenth in innings pitched in the Moravian record book. At the plate, Cunningham had 39 hits, 37 runs, seven doubles, seven homers and 27 RBIs in her career to go along with 17 putouts and 93 assists in the field.
Off the field, Cunningham was selected to Moravian's Dean's Honors List six times as well as being a member of the Chi Alpha Sigma National College Athlete Honor Society. She was a two-time member of the Landmark Conference Academic Honor Roll, selected as the 2024 Landmark Conference Senior Scholar-Athlete for softball. Cunningham graduated in three years with a bachelor's degree in economics and finance and a minor in art with a 3.98 career grade-point average. She was selected as a 2023 NFCA All-America Scholar-Athlete, and Cunningham is a two-time College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District Team honoree. She was an economics tutor on campus as well as a teacher assistant for America Reads.
All school and conference nominees receive an NCAA certificate and will be recognized on www.ncaa.org. The top 30 honorees will be honored, and the 2024 NCAA Woman of the Year winner will be announced in November.
