DENVER - Seattle U's Madison Cathcart and Grand Canyon's Brianna Aguilar-Beaucage have been named the Western Athletic Conference Hitter and Pitcher of the Week, respectively, for March 5-11. This is the second of the season and of her career for Cathcart and the second honor of the season and third of her career for Aguilar-Beaucage.
Cathcart, a sophomore first baseman from Longview, Wash., posted a .500 batting average, 1.500 slugging percentage and .667 on-base percentage over six games last week. She had two doubles, four home runs and 12 RBIs and walked seven times on the week. Cathcart led the Redhawks to a doubleheader sweep of Toledo on Tuesday, reaching base all seven times she came to the plate and hitting a walk-off grand slam in the nightcap. The sophomore followed with two more homers at the CSUN Tournament, upping her NCAA-leading total to 14 home runs this year.
Aguilar-Beaucage, a sophomore right-hander from Tucson, Ariz., went 3-1 with a 1.85 ERA over 22.2 innings pitched last week. She posted a 19-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio and allowed just three extra-base hits. Aguilar-Beaucage threw three complete games with two shutouts, including two one-hitters. On Sunday against Iowa, she had a perfect game through six innings when she gave up a single run in the top of the seventh.
Other Hitter of the Week nominees included: CSU Bakersfield's Kaylynn Burt hit .500 with two runs and one RBI ... Sierra Smith of Grand Canyon hit .409 with a triple and three RBIs ... Kansas City's Kelsey Goodwin hit .357 with a double, a triple and four RBIs ... Kelsey Horton of NM State hit .375 with four home runs and seven RBIs ... Utah Valley's Madison Sisco hit .385 with two home runs and eight RBIs.
Other Pitcher of the Week nominees included: Kansas City's Sara Miller posted a 4.67 ERA with two strikeouts over 9.0 innings last week ... Samaria Diaz of NM State went 0-2 with a 4.67 ERA and eight strikeouts over 12.0 innings ... Utah Valley's Makayla Shadle went 1-2 with a save and 20 strikeouts over 15.0 innings last week.