DENVER – Utah State’s Christine Thomsen and San Jose State’s Amanda Pridmore have been named the Western Athletic Conference Hitter and Pitcher of the Week, respectively, for March 11-17. This is the first-ever honor for Thomsen and the second of the season and third of her career for Pridmore.
Thomsen, a senior infielder from Fresno, Calif., led the Aggies to their first wins of the season, as Utah State went 5-2 last week. She posted a .476 batting average, .619 slugging percentage and .560 on-base percentage over the seven games. Thomsen produced 10 hits in 21 at bats, three of which were doubles, two RBI and also walked four times. Her double in the bottom of the seventh inning against Portland State rallied Utah State past the Vikings after overcoming a five-run deficit in the seventh to send the game into extra-innings. The Aggies eventually won the game 6-5.
Pridmore, a senior from Modesto, Calif., went 4-1 with a save in six appearances last week. In 27.2 innings of work, she posted a 0.51 ERA, 44 strikeouts and held opponents to a .120 batting average. In her two appearances on March 16, she pitched 12 innings of shutout softball, yielded just two singles, struck out 25 of the 42 batters she faced and was the winning pitcher in both games. In a shutout against Marist, she had a San Jose State single-game record 17 strikeouts, the fifth-most in a single game in NCAA Division I history. Pridmore also picked up her program-best 13th career save against Harvard on March 15 and moved into seventh place in San Jose State history for career shutouts (10).
Other Hitter of the Week nominees included: Kelsey Dodd of New Mexico State hit .400 in a pair of games at No. 21 Nebraska ... Jessica Garcia of San Jose State hit .389 with two doubles, a home run and eight RBI ... Seattle U’s Allegra Wilde hit .417 with a double and one RBI last week ... Britnea Barilli of UT Arlington hit .333 with a double and two RBI last week ... UTSA’s Jolene Graham hit .500 with four RBI on the week ... Haley Lemons of Texas State hit .400 with one double, one homer and two RBI.
Other Pitcher of the Week nominees included: Celisha Walker of New Mexico State posted a 1.62 ERA with three strikeouts in 4.1 innings of work ... UT Arlington’s Teri Lyles went 4-2 with 18 strikeouts over 30.1 innings ... Ryan House of Texas State went 2-1 with a 1.88 ERA and 14 strikeouts last week ... Utah State’s Noelle Johnson went 2-1 with 16 strikeouts on the week.