Amanda Marie Scarborough (born May 10, 1986) is an American sports broadcaster for
ESPN
ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...
and former softball player. Playing college softball at
Texas A&M
Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...
Houston
Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...
and raised in
Magnolia, Texas
Magnolia is a city in southwestern Montgomery County, Texas, United States within the Houston metropolitan area. It is named for the magnolia trees that grow in the area.Magnolia High School in 2004. Attending
Texas A&M University
Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...
, Scarborough was started at pitcher and first base from 2005 to 2008 under head coach
Jo Evans
Joleen Evans (born July 29, 1960) is an American college softball coach. She is the head coach of the UC-Santa Barbara softball team. She was the head coach for Texas A&M from 1997 to 2022. Prior to that, she served as the head coach for the Uta ...
.
As a freshman in 2005, Scarborough went 26–2 (11–1 in
Big 12 Conference
The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida ...
games) as a pitcher with an 0.73 earned run average and was the team's best hitter with a .405 batting average. A first-team NFCA All-American, she became the first player to earn both Freshman of the Year and
Player of the Year
Several sports leagues honour their best player with an award called Player of the Year. In the United States, this type of award is usually called a Most Valuable Player award.
Association football
In association football, this award is held on b ...
honors from the Big 12.
Starting all 53 games played in 2006, Scarborough was Texas A&M's second-leading hitter with a .305 batting average and a first-team All-Big 12 honoree. As a pitcher, Scarborough went 15–11 with a 2.47 ERA.
One of five players to start all 60 games of 2007, Scarborough had a 26–10 record, 1.50 ERA, and .333 batting average, earning her Big 12 Pitcher of the Year, first-team NFCA All-American, and first-team All-Big 12 honors as a junior. That year, Texas A&M made the
Women's College World Series
The Women's College World Series (WCWS) is the final portion of the NCAA Division I softball tournament for college softball in the United States and is held annually in Oklahoma City, OK. The event is held at Devon Park (stadium), Devon Park loca ...
for the first time in nearly 20 years.
With a .447 batting average, 4–2 record as pitcher, and 2.27 ERA, Scarborough played only 15 games (14 starts) in her senior season in 2008 before what became a career-ending foot injury early in the season. Scarborough graduated from Texas A&M with a B.A. in communication in December 2008.
Scarborough remained involved with Texas A&M softball while in graduate school, first as a graduate assistant for the 2009 season then as volunteer pitching coach in 2010. Scarborough completed her M.S. in sport management in May 2011.
Broadcasting career
Beginning in 2009, Scarborough did on-air analysis for
ESPN
ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...
coverage of NCAA Super Regionals. Scarborough joined ESPN's on-air crew for the Women's College World Series for the first time in
2015
2015 was designated by the United Nations as:
* International Year of Light
* International Year of Soil __TOC__
Events
January
* January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...