Monday, February 26, 2007

MACON, Ga. -- Two Owls and a Hatter take Atlantic Sun weekly honors as Kennesaw State's April Keasler was named Player of the Week. Her teammate Brittany Matthews shares Pitcher of the Week with Stetson's Erica Demers.

Keasler led the Owls to a 5-1 record last week and earned conference Player of the Week honors for the first time in her career after hitting .409 with a pair of home runs and nine runs batted in. A perfect 4-for-4 game against the College of Charleston, in the Owl Classic, highlighted the week that saw Keasler hit a grand slam home run, have a walk-off, run-rule, two-run homer, a triple, two doubles, four runs scored and a pair of stolen bases.

She also had a .864 slugging percentage and a .409 on-base percentage for the week. In addition, the senior from Acworth, Ga. enjoyed a tremendous week in the field. Playing center field, an adjustment from her familiar corner outfield positions, Keasler made no less than three run-saving grabs during the six games while also adding an outfield assist to her line. She threw a runner out at third base in the Owls win over the College of Charleston on Saturday.

Matthews had a stellar week for the Owls, winning all three games she appeared in. Versus Samford on Wednesday, she struck out nine, while only allowing one hit in eight innings and then shut-out Liberty, tossing a nine-inning complete game shutout in which she struck out a career-high 12 batters while scattering just five hits.

Demers pitched seven innings, allowing only two hits and no runs to help lead the Hatters to a 3-0 victory last Wednesday. This victory now puts Demers record at 3-0, recording wins over Iowa and Marist in the first Stetson tournament earlier this month. The Miami, Fla. native was chosen as the pre-season Pitcher of the Year by the Atlantic Sun Conference as well as a member of the All-Conference pre-season team.

The Atlantic Sun Conference hands out Player of the Week awards each Monday during the 2007 softball season.

The 12-member league headquartered in Macon, Ga., consists of Belmont, Campbell, ETSU, Gardner-Webb, Jacksonville, Kennesaw State, Lipscomb, Mercer, UNF and Stetson with Florida Gulf Coast and USC Upstate beginning competition in 2007-08.

Other Top Performers

Joanna Ward, GWU (Jr. - C/IF - Midland, N.C. - Undeclared) -- Ward hit .429 for the week after getting nine hits in 21 at bats. Scored four runs while driving in seven .

Christen Campbell, Lip (Fr. - C/IF - Mint Hill, N.C. - Biology) -- Finished the week 2-1 win 8-2 win over UT-Charttanooga, 20-0 win over Savananah State, her second shutout of the season, and a 5-4 loss in eight innings to Georgia Southern.

Stacey Condra, MER (Fr. - UT - Suwanee, Ga. - Engineering) -- Condra hit .538 for the week, recording 7 hits in 13 at-bats. She had her first career double in the game in the Bears' win against Oakland and had four RBIs for the week.

Katie Brosky, UNF (Sr. - P - Palatka, Fla. - Political Science) -- Brosky gave up only four hits to the No. 19 team in the country to go along with two walks and two strikeouts.