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Eastern Illinois junior pitcher Olivia Price has been selected as the Ohio Valley Conference Female Athlete of the Year for 2022-23 in voting by the league's athletics directors and communications directors.
 
SEMO running back Geno Hess was named the OVC Male Athlete of the Year on Wednesday.
 
Price, the OVC Pitcher of the Year, guided the Panthers to a 34-21 overall record and 16-6 record in OVC action. The Panthers earned the No. 2 seed for the OVC Tournament, then won three games in three days to win the tournament crown for the first time in program history.  During that tournament run Price pitched 21.0 innings, going 3-0 with an 0.33 E.R.A. and .169 opponent batting average. She had back-to-back shutouts in her final two games, including six strikeouts and no walks in the title game as the Panthers earned its first-ever NCAA Tournament bid.
 
For the year she appeared in 31 games (23 starts) and was 16-6 with a 1.87 E.R.A., 12 complete games, six shutouts and two saves. In 138.1 innings of work she struck out 90 while walking only 23. She also tallied the eighth no-hitter in program history.
 
Price is the fourth different Eastern Illinois student-athlete to be named OVC Female Athlete of the Year, joining volleyball player Erica Gerth (2004-05), track and field athlete Kandace Arnold (2009-10) and distance runner Lindsey Carlson (2021-22).
 
Other female nominees for the award included Lindenwood senior goalkeeper Sam Blazek, Little Rock junior track and field athlete Janae Largins, Morehead State senior volleyball/beach volleyball athlete Bridget Bessler, Southeast Missouri junior track and field athlete Breanna Miles, SIUE sophomore soccer player Matea Diekema, Southern Indiana senior softball player Allie Goodin, Tennessee State junior track and field athlete Elaina Housworth, Tennessee Tech senior soccer player Chloe Smith and UT Martin junior softball player Kaci Fuller.
 
The OVC first awarded a Female Athlete of the Year honor in 1981.