College: NCAA Div. I National Players of the Week… Home Run Heroics & No-Hitter Highlights Week 7! (Mar. 26, 2019)

Two players who transferred in the off-season are among those recognized for their great weeks including one who beat her former team ! Below, we feature the Division I Players of the Week as named by Louisville Slugger/NFCA and USA Softball.

Here are this week’s honorees for Mar. 18-24, 2019…

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Kendyl Lindaman, Miranda Elish earn 2019 Louisville Slugger/NFCA Division I weekly honors

Florida’s Kendyl Lindaman and Texas’ Miranda Elish were named Louisville/Slugger NFCA Division I National Player and Pitcher of the Week of the Week, respectively, for games played March 18-24.

Lindaman

Lindaman homered in all four games for the Gators last week, as all six of her hits left the yard. She homered twice in both contests against Mercer and launched the game-winning long ball in a 2-0 win over then-No. 20 Minnesota. The junior catcher finished the week with a 2.000 slugging percentage, 13 RBI, seven runs scored and a .600 on-base percentage. The Ankeny, Iowa native’s two-run shot against the Gophers came in the first inning, as did her roundtrippers against LSU and Mercer (game two). Lindaman connected on two three-run bombs and drove in six in game one versus the Bears.

Elish

Elish, a junior from Crown Point, Ind., keyed the Longhorns to a perfect 4-0 week by going 2-0 in the circle with a no-hitter and 20 strikeouts, while also contributing at the plate with a .364 average, grand slam and five RBI. In her second outing of the week, she tossed a five-inning no-hitter with eight punchouts against Iowa State. Additionally, she was 2-for-4 at the plate with the game-ending grand slam and five RBI. The Big 12 Pitcher of the Week took a no-hit bid into the seventh in her first start of the week at Lipscomb. Elish finished with 11 K’s in a one-hit shutout of the Lady Bisons.

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2019 Honorees (Player /Pitcher)

• Mar. 26: Kendyl Lindaman, Florida / Miranda Elish, Texas
• Mar. 19: Rachel Garcia, UCLA / Brooke Yanez, UC Davis
• Mar. 12: Jenna Cone, George Washington / Gabbie Plain, Washington
• Mar. 5: Teaghan Cowles, Stanford & Brigette Nordbert, North Carolina State / Amber Fiser, Minnesota
• Feb. 26: Cali Harrod, Florida State /Giselle Juarez, Oklahoma
• Feb. 19: Tristen Edwards, Nebraska  / Keely Rochard, Virginia Tech
• Feb. 12: Caitlyn Nolan, Virginia Tech / Kelly Barnhill, Florida

Selected Top Performances

Maddi Hackbarth, Arizona State– .556, 5 H, 5 HR, 9 RBI, 7 R, 2.222 SLG, .636 OBP; Katie Run, Ohio- .556, 10 H, 6 HR, 9 RBI, 9 R, 1.556 SLG, .579 OBP; Meghan King, Florida State – 2-0, 0.00 ERA, 23 K, 4 BB, 3 H, 11 IP, no-hitter versus North Carolina State; Grace Green, Oklahoma– .667, 2B, 3 HR, 9 RBI, 7 R, 8 H, 1.500 SLG, .667 OBP; Sarah Bennett, Georgetown- .750, 3 HR, 4 BB, HBP, 4 RBI, 3 R, 3.000 SLG, .889 OBP; Alyssa Denham, Arizona- 1-0, 0 R, 8 K, 3 BB, no-hitter versus Oregon State; Kassidy Wilbur, Stephen F. Austin- 2-1, 0.86 ERA, 27 K, .153 opp. BA; Ashley Westbrooks, Winthrop- .600, 6 H, 4 HR, 12 RBI, 1.500 SLG; Meghan Beaubien, Michigan- 3-0, SV, 0.00 ERA, 31 K, BB, 20.2 IP, 6 H; Emma Bordenkecher, Idaho State- .727, 8 H, 3 2B, 2 HR, 9 RBI, 5 R, 1.546 SLG; Kelsey Aikey, Western Kentucky- 1-0, SV, 0 R, 5 H, 21 K, 13 IP; Madison Burns, Hofstra- 2-0, SV, 0.42 ERA, 7 K.

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Arizona State’s Maddi Hackbarth Garners USA Softball Player of the Week honors

Five hits, all which left the yard, during Arizona State’s series sweep over Utah has Maddi Hackbarth (Oakdale, Calif.) earning Week 7 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Week honors.  Announced today by USA Softball, Hackbarth sparked the Sun Devils comeback win on Sunday as the junior opened up the seventh inning with her third home run of the afternoon for her third multi-home run game this season.

“I couldn’t have done this without my teammates,” said Hackbarth. “Thank you to USA Softball for the honor, and a special thank you to my teammates and coaches for helping me get to this point. While I am proud of what I was able to accomplish this past week, I am even more proud of the fight we showed as a team.”

Starting all three games in the series against Utah, Hackbarth got things started with a two-home run outing on Friday before capping off the weekend with a three-home run game in the 18-17 comeback win. Hackbarth currently ranks third nationally with 16 homers this season, and also collects her first career Pac-12 Player of the Week honor for her performance in Week 7.

“What an incredible honor for Maddi and the program,” said Head Coach Trisha Ford. “I am so proud of her! She’s an integral part of this program and it’s great to see her hard work pay off.”

For the week, Hackbarth had a .556 (5-for-9) average with five home runs, nine RBI and seven runs scored while amassing a 2.222 slugging percentage.  Hackbarth was perfect in the field with no errors and 11 putouts, throwing out two runners on the base-bath.

This is the first USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Week for Hackbarth and first for an athlete from Arizona State this season.

2019 USA Softball National Collegiate Players of the Week

• Week 1 (Feb. 7-10): Kassidy Wilbur – Stephen F. Austin – Freshman – Pitcher – Bridge City, Texas
• Week 2 (Feb. 11-17): Zoe Casas – Florida State – Senior – Outfield – Rialto, Calif.
• Co-Week 3 (Feb. 18-24): Danielle Gibson – Arkansas – Sophomore – Infield – Murrieta, Calif.
• Co-Week 3 (Feb. 18-24): Andrea Scali – Kent State – RS Freshman – Pitcher – Parma, Ohio
• Week 4 (Feb. 25-March 3): Meghan Beaubien — Michigan — Sophomore — Newport, Mich.
• Week 5 (March 4-10): Jenna Cone — George Washington — Junior — Trabuco Canyon, Calif.
• Week 6 (March 11-17): Rachel Garcia — UCLA— RS Junior — Palmdale, Calif.
• Week 7 (March 18-24): Maddi Hackbarth – Arizona State – Junior – Oakdale, Calif.