DENVER – Missouri-Kansas City’s Katie Kelley and New Mexico State’s Karysta Donisthorpe have been named the Western Athletic Conference Hitter and Pitcher of the Week, respectively, for March 2-8. This is the second WAC Hitter of the Week honor of the season and third of her career for Kelley, and the second WAC Pitcher of the Week honor of the season and third of her career for Donisthorpe.
Kelley, a junior from Coweta, Okla., hit .500 with two doubles, four home runs and an astounding 16 RBI over five games last week. She posted a 1.200 slugging percentage and a .524 on-base percentage. Kelley had a hit in all five games to extend her current hit streak to 10 games. She was 3-for-3 with a double, a homer and three RBIs in an 8-7 loss to host Oklahoma State on Saturday. In a win over Connecticut later that day, she was 4-for-5 with a double, two homers and a program single-game record seven RBIs. She also set the program record for RBIs in a five-game span with 16.
Donisthorpe, a redshirt junior from Farmington, N.M., started three of five games last week for the Aggies, going 2-0 while also picking up New Mexico State’s first save of the season. She appeared in four games, not allowing a run in three of those games while finishing with a 2.14 ERA and 16 strikeouts on the week. Donisthorpe began the week with a complete-game shutout of Tulsa, scattering five hits with only one walk. She then picked up her first save of the season the following day against Tulsa after stepping into the circle to get the final two outs of the contest. Donisthorpe concluded the week by striking out nine batters while not allowing an earned run in a win against North Dakota.
Other Hitter of the Week nominees included: Bakersfield’s Sydney Raeber hit .333 with two doubles and three RBIs last week ... Brennalyn Nakamura of New Mexico State hit .667 with a double, two home runs and nine RBIs as the Aggies went 5-0 last week ... Utah Valley’s Brianna Gatlin hit .467 with two doubles, a homer and five RBIs.
Other Pitcher of the Week nominees included: UMKC’s Katie Kelley had a WAC-best 20 strikeouts in 21.2 innings on the week ... Bailey Moore of Utah Valley went 1-0 with nine strikeouts in 19.0 innings of work.