Date Posted: 2/13/2006

Macon, Ga. -- North Florida's Amy Higgs and Stetson's Erica Demers helped their teams to great starts in the league's opening weekend. The two have been named Atlantic Sun Player and Pitcher of the week respectively.

Helping the Ospreys get off to a 5-1 start on the season, Higgs hit .667 in six games and led the team with seven RBI's. She was 12-for18 at the plate with three doubles, and had an .833 slugging percentage. Higgs was also 3-for-3 in stolen-base attempts and only struck out once. She had muliple hits in five of UNF's six games.

For Stetson, Demers guided the Hatters to two wins and the championship title of the first Stetson Softball Tournament of the season. The rookie went 2-0 with 10 strikeouts and a 0.00 ERA in 10 innings.

Her first career win and shutout came in her debut appearance as the Hatters defeated Charleston Southern Friday 8-0. She allowed just two single base hits while striking out seven batters in five innings. Demers earned her next win against #14 DePaul, holding the Blue Demons two just one single base hit while recording three strikeouts in five relief innings. She allowed no walks, threw no wild pitches, and hit no batters in 10 innings.

The Atlantic Sun Conference announces the Player of the Week every Monday during the 2006 softball campaign.

The 11-member league headquartered in Macon, Ga., consists of Belmont, Campbell, ETSU, Florida Atlantic, Gardner-Webb, Jacksonville, Kennesaw State, Lipscomb, Mercer, North Florida and Stetson.

Other Top Performers

Kelly Cowart, KSU (So. - CF - Snellville, Ga. - Biology) -- Cowart had a monster weekend as the Owls swept Georgia Southern 11-7 and 6-3 on Saturday. She native went 5-for-8, with one home run and six runs batted in. She was also stellar in the field as she recroded two put-outs and one assist.

Stephanie Rossman, MER (Jr. - P - Tallahassee, Fla. - Biomedical Engineering) -- Rossman threw her first NCAA no-hitter against former A-Sun member Georgia State, while striking out 11. Held opponents to a .037 batting average, while surrendering just one hit against 27 batters in two appearances.