Stacey Porter says she is humbled to have been nominated for the 2019 The World Games Athlete of the Year.
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The Australian captain and Tamworth native is one of 25 athletes, representing a range of sports from the more mainstream like hockey, handball, archery, karate, gymnastics and kick boxing to lesser-recognised such as fistball, flying disc, tug of war, orienteering and sport climbing, up for the award.
She was nominated by the World Baseball Softball Confederation and is one of three Australians on the list, joining Lacrosse player Madison Copeland and waterskiier and wakeboarder Nic Rapa.
"It's such an honour to be nominated by the WBSC for this award, thanks to them for recognising the great year of softball we had in Australia in 2019," Porter said.
"I feel very humbled to be representing softball amongst such a talented group of athletes from other sports."
It is the sixth time that the International World Games Association (IWGA) has held the awards.
The award honours an athlete or a team for their outstanding performance in 2019, or for their social commitment or particularly fair behaviour.
Porter's nomination follows another outstanding year for the 37-year old, who became the most capped Australian softball player in history when she played her 430th international game during the Asia Pacific Cup.
She bookended 2019 by leading the Aussie Spirit to victory at the Asia/Oceania Olympic Qualifier.
The win guaranteed Australia a spot at the this year's Olympics Games in Tokyo and the World Games 2021 in Birmingham.
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Porter hit .500 through the tournament with three doubles, five runs and six RBI (runs batted in).
Regarded as one of the best batters in the world, it's not the first time the infielder has been recognised for a major award over the course of a decorated career spanning over 17 years.
In 2005 she was named the Female Sportsperson of the Year at the Deadly Awards and the [Australian] Female Softballer of the Year.
The first Indigenous female softballer to represent Australia at the Olympics, she was also named the NAIDOC Sportsperson of the Year in 2008, and has on three occasions been named Softball Australia's Indigenous Athlete of the Year.
Voting began on January 8 and ends at 3pm Central European Time on Thursday January 30.
As before there will be a fixed date, after which only the 10 candidates with most votes at that time will continue in the race. That will be January 20.
You can vote for Porter at: https://www.theworldgames.org/awards/Athlete-of-the-Year-2019-70
