Amanda Louise Freed (born December 26, 1979) is an American, former professional

softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

utility player and

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

. She played college softball for

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

, winning the national title for the Bruins in the

1999 Women's College World Series The 1999 NCAA Division I softball tournament was the eighteenth annual tournament to determine the national champion of NCAA women's collegiate softball. Held during May 1999, forty-eight Division I college softball teams contested the champions ...

. In two other national runner-up finishes, she was also named All-Tournament in all her appearances at the world series. She later won a gold medal with

Team USA The United States national team or Team USA may refer to any of a number of sports team representing the United States in international competitions. Olympic teams Additionally, these teams may compete in other international competitions such as ...

at the 2004 Summer Olympics. In 2005, Freed joined the

National Pro Fastpitch National Pro Fastpitch (NPF), formerly the Women's Pro Softball League (WPSL), was a professional women's softball league in the United States. The teams battled for the Cowles Cup. The WPSL was founded in 1997 and folded in 2001; the NPF revive ...

and played until 2008 for the defunct

Rockford Thunder Rockford or Rockfords may refer to: Places United States * Rockford, Illinois, a city, the largest municipality of this name *Rockford, Alabama, a town * Rockford, Idaho, a census-designated place * Rockford metropolitan area, Illinois, a United St ...

. She also served as a coach for

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

Early life and college career

Born in

Fountain Valley, California Fountain Valley is a suburban city in Orange County, California. The population was 57,047 at the 2020 census. History The area encompassing Fountain Valley was originally inhabited by the Tongva people. European settlement of the area b ...

and raised in nearby Cypress, Freed went to Pacifica High School in Garden Grove. As a pitcher in high school, Amanda won numerous awards, including the Gatorade National Female Athlete of the Year and Gatorade Softball Player of the Year. As a senior in high school, Freed was rank the top pitcher in the world and even threw five perfect games. As the top softball recruit in 1998, Freed decided to attend

where she played for the

UCLA Bruins softball The UCLA Bruins softball team represents the University of California, Los Angeles in NCAA Division I softball. The Bruins are among the most decorated programs in NCAA softball, leading all schools in NCAA championships with 12, 13 overall Women' ...

team from 1999 to 2002. To this day (2018) Freed stats at UCLA are impressive. Freed holds records in the top 10 for eight categories of pitching and eight categories of hitting.

International playing career

Freed played for a number of years as part of the for the

United States women's national softball team The United States women's national softball team is the national softball team of the United States. It is governed by USA Softball (formerly known as the Amateur So ...

, winning gold at the Canadian Cup and World Cup in 2002, the team won gold at

2003 Pan American Games The 2003 Pan American Games were held in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, from August 1 to 17, 2003. The successful bid for the games was made in the mid-1990s, when Dominican Republic had one of the highest growth rates in Latin America. Al ...

, 2004 Summer Olympics, and 2006 World Cup of Softball.http://pac-12.com/content/pac-12-networks-air-personalities#amandafreed Amanda was also an alternate at the 2000 Olympics, where the team won gold. Making the team in 2004, Freed made four appearances contributing a

double A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * ...

and scoring three runs.

Professional playing career

From 2005 to 2008, Freed played for

, first with the Texas (later Rockford) Thunder from 2005 to 2007 then with the

Chicago Bandits The Chicago Bandits were a women's professional softball team based in Rosemont, Illinois. Since the 2005 season, they have played as a member of National Pro Fastpitch (NPF). The Bandits won the 2008 NPF championship, defeating the Washington ...

Cowles Cup championship team in 2008.https://npf.805stats.com/player.php?id=21019

Post-playing career

In 2008, Freed was an assistant coach at

under Eileen Schmidt. In 2009, Freed was a personal trainer for

Reese Witherspoon Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon (born March 22, 1976) is an American actress and producer. The recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and two Golden Globe Awards, she ...

during filming for the movie ''

How Do You Know ''How Do You Know'' is a 2010 American romantic comedy film directed, written and produced by James L. Brooks, and starring Reese Witherspoon, Owen Wilson, Paul Rudd and Jack Nicholson in his final film role. It was the third film to feature W ...

'', in which Witherspoon played a softball player. Freed later became a softball color commentator for FSW,

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...

and Pac-12 Network.

College Statistics

References

External links

*
2006 World Cup profile

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Freed, Amanda Louise 1979 births Living people Olympic gold medalists for the United States in softball Olympic softball players of the United States Softball players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Softball players from California Sportspeople from Orange County, California UCLA Bruins softball players People from Fountain Valley, California People from Cypress, California Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics