2014 Sportsman of the Year finalist: Rachel Lawson engineers 'inspiring' turnaround for Kentucky softball

Over the coming days, we are revealing, in alphabetical order, the 10 finalists for the 2014 Lexington Herald-Leader Kentucky Sportsman of the Year award.

The winner will be announced simultaneously the night of Feb. 4 on Kentucky.com and at the fourth annual Bluegrass Sports Awards banquet.

Complete results from Sportsman voting will be in the Feb. 5 Herald-Leader along with a story on the winner and summaries on each of the top 10 finishers in the voting.

Here is the sixth of the 10 finalists:

Rachel Lawson

Why 2014 was a very good year: The University of Kentucky softball coach led the Wildcats (50-19) to the Women's College World Series for the first time in school history.

What the voters said:

1.) "Program was absolutely nothing when (Lawson) arrived. Got it to the WCWS on the arm of one pitcher. Development year over year has been inspiring."

— Jared Peck, Lexington Herald-Leader

2.) "Rachel Lawson has turned UK into a softball powerhouse."

— Mike Cameron, WLXG-AM, Lexington

3.) "... in 2014, Lawson capped years of block-by-block building to lead Kentucky to a College World Series berth that is oh-so-elusive."

— Brian Rickerd, The State Journal, Frankfort

This story was originally published January 30, 2015 at 4:49 PM with the headline "2014 Sportsman of the Year finalist: Rachel Lawson engineers 'inspiring' turnaround for Kentucky softball."