INDIANAPOLIS - Hillsdale and Malone take home Great Midwest Softball Player of the Week honors announced Tuesday afternoon.
Player of the Week
Madison Stoner
Hillsdale
Catcher
Senior
Hunker, Pa. (Hempfield HS)
The Chargers swept a two-game series with Tiffin on Saturday, winning 16-9 and 6-1. Hillsdale added to its six-game winning streak as the Chargers sit at 16-10 overall and 4-0 in conference play. Hillsdale is one of two teams that remain undefeated in the league as Trevecca is 6-0 among conference opponents.
In the first game of Saturday’s series, Stoner was 4-of-5 at the plate including a three-run home run in the sixth inning. She also doubled scoring one run, as she finished the game with six RBI.
Stoner played in the designated hitter role in the second game of the series, connecting on 2-of-3 at-bats. She had a double in the sixth inning that scored one run.
Hillsdale has the third-best team batting average in the league at .287. Individually, Stoner ranks sixth in the conference with a batting average of .422. She has 27 hits on the season including four doubles, one triple and four home runs.
Pitcher of the Week
Kelsey Byers
Malone
Right-handed pitcher
Junior
Alliance, Ohio (West Branch HS)
Malone split a series with Tiffin and swept Findlay in a two-game series last week. The Pioneers defeated Tiffin 9-2 in the first game and fell 0-3 in the second game. Against Findlay, Malone won 10-0 and 5-2.
Byers went 3-1 on the week, pitching 26 innings in four complete games. In the first game against Tiffin, Byers struck out six batters while only walking one. She gave up only four hits and two earned runs. Byers added seven more strikeouts to her total for the day in the second game of the series with Tiffin.
Against Findlay, Byers struck out eight batters, while allowing only two hits and zero walks in the five inning shutout. In the final game of the week, the right-handed pitcher threw seven more strikeouts and did not walk any batters.
The junior boasts the best strikeout-to-walk ratio in all of Division II at 28.25 (113 K to 4 BB).
Byers improves to 10-3 in the circle with an ERA of 1.64, which ranks second-best among all conference pitchers.