2019 NPF Player of the Year: Amanda Chidester

It didn't take long for Amanda Chidester to get acclimated to the top professional softball league in the world. That's why Chidester, who just completed her first full National Pro Fastpitch season, is this year's Softball America NPF Player of the Year.

The honor marks Chidester's fifth award of the 2019 campaign, as she took home the NPF's Player of the Year, Offensive Player of the Year and Home Run Awards last week, while also being recognized with an All-NPF selection for her performance this year.

Chidester narrowly missed out on winning the league's Triple Crown honor for the 2019 regular season. Overall, she batted .374 with 49 hits, 35 RBI and 15 home runs to go along with a .814 slugging percentage for the Bandits, the NPF's regular-season champions and NPF Championship Series runners-up.

The University of Michigan alumna signed a one-year deal with Chicago back in February, following a seven-year run with Team USA. She was originally drafted by the now-defunct Akron Racers right out of college in 2012, but opted instead to play with the national team that season. She played sparingly in the NPF for the Scrap Yard Dawgs in 2016, as she spent most of that season competing internationally with USA Softball.

In October, Chidester will try out for a spot on Team USA for the 2020 calendar year, as she was one of 30 players invited to the Olympic Team Selection Trials ahead of next summer's Olympic Games in Tokyo.

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