Monday, March 28, 2011

MACON, Ga. – The Lady Bisons opened up their Atlantic Sun softball title defense with two road sweeps starting with ETSU and finishing with USC Upstate on Sunday. Caroline Mason earned Player of the Week honors by batting .500 with three home runs and seven RBI, while Whitney Kiihnl picked up her eighth career A-Sun Pitcher of the Week honor by tallying three wins on the week which included a one-hit shutout against ETSU.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK:
Caroline Mason, Lipscomb (RF – Jr. – Mt. Juliet, Tenn. – Health and Physical Education)
• First A-Sun Player of the Week award
• Batted .500 on the week with three home runs, three doubles and seven RBI
• Led Lady Bisons to 4-0 week with doubleheader sweeps at No. 25 USC Upstate and ETSU
• Secured hits in all four wins and three multi-RBI games including both against USC Upstate
• Five of her seven RBI came against the Spartans

OTHER NOMINEES:
• Mariah Fernandez (RF, FGCU) – Drove in six runs while batting .400 on the week
• Lauren Stephan (LF, Campbell) – Blasted four homers and scored six runs for the Camels
• Katie Henderson (C/IF, ETSU) – Notched four extra-base hits on the week with three doubles
• Jensen Hackett (IF, Kennesaw State) – Extended hitting streak to nine games with three RBI
• Ashley Byers (1B, Belmont) – Leads team with seven home runs, 19 RBI and 47 total bases
• Sarah Simon (C, Jacksonville) – Batted .417 with five runs scored, three RBI and one home run
• Amanda Santa Maria (2B, Mercer) – Hit first career grand slam to help Bears to 9-3 win at UNF

PITCHER OF THE WEEK:
Whitney Kiihnl, Lipscomb (Jr. – Batesville, Miss. – Biology)
• Eighth Career A-Sun Pitcher of the Week
• Picked up three wins on the week; two of which came against No. 25 USC Upstate
• Tossed one-hit shutout at ETSU by striking out 11 Lady Bucs in five innings
• Allowed only three earned runs in 16 innings for a 1.31 ERA
• Fanned 21 batters in total, while walking only two

OTHER NOMINEES:
• Katie Woodcock (Sr., Campbell) – Threw Camels’ first shutout of the season on Tuesday
• Kelci Breaux (Sr., FGCU) – Tossed three-hit complete game victory against Campbell
• Sarah Sigrest (Jr., Jacksonville) – Picked up three wins with a 0.47 ERA to lead Dolphins to 4-0 week
• Abbey Meixel (So., Kennesaw State) – Earned both victories in road sweep of UNF
• Jenni Holtz (Sr., Mercer) – Surpassed the 700 innings pitched plateau for her career

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