CHARLOTTE, N.C.- Florida SouthWestern ace Belle Sardja completed her postseason award trifecta on Wednesday as the sophomore star followed up NJCAA 1^st Team All-American and NFCA National Pitcher of the Year honors with the most prestigious on field award for any NJCAA pitcher as she was named the 2023 NJCAA Division I National Pitcher of the Year. 

Sardja led FSW to their third straight NJCAA National Championship in 2023, starting all five games in the circle at the World Series in route to the Title for the Bucs. She finished the season a sparkling 25-2, dialing up eight complete game shutouts, including two in the World Series. Sardja was nearly untouchable in the circle for the Bucs this season, posting a microscopic 0.88 ERA which ranked 3^rd in the country, while allowing opponents to hit just .194 against her. 

Sardja finishes her FSW career with a 41-5 overall record and a program record nine saves.  She dealt 28 complete games in her two seasons including 12 shutouts while notching a 1.05 career ERA which is best in program history. 

FSW Head Coach Robert Iamurri said of Sardja "Belle is the model of what every coach's dream player to coach is.  She is an incredible student and an amazing athlete. No matter what our game plan was going into a game, Belle could execute it perfectly, which is what gave her and us as a team so much success the past two seasons.  She is the ultimate team player, with everything she does, centered around what is best for the team, not necessarily herself.  Case and point, she only started 2 of our first 7 games of the season this year because we needed to develop the rest of our pitching staff, and not once did she ever bring a complaint up to our coaching staff, but instead, was 100% behind the rest of her pitching staff members, working with and cheering for them to perform to the best of their abilities."

Sardja is the third FSW pitcher in just seven seasons to win NJCAA National Pitcher of the Year honors, joining Courtney Gettins (2016) and Kelsi Collins (2019).

Her trophy case now includes 2023 NJCAA and NFCA National Pitcher of the Year honors, 2023 NJCAA 1^st Team All-American, 2023 NJCAA World Series Most Outstanding Pitcher, 2023 FCSAA and Southern Conference Pitcher of the Year, 2023 FCSAA 1^st Team All-State, 2023 Southern Conference 1^st Team All-Conference, 2022 NJCAA National Tournament Most Valuable Player, and 2022 Suncoast Conference 1^st Team All-Conference among others. 

Sardja is signed to play for her hometown University of South Florida Bulls next season.