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DENVER - Grand Canyon's Sierra Smith and Seattle U's Shianne Smith have been named the Western Athletic Conference Hitter and Pitcher of the Week, respectively, for Feb. 26-March 4. This is the first honor of the season and second of her career for Sierra Smith and the first-ever honor for Shianne Smith.
Sierra Smith, a junior third baseman from Waddell, Ariz., hit .533 over five games last week with three doubles, one triple and one home run to help GCU to a 3-2 showing in the Lopes Up Classic. Five of her eight hits on the week were extra base hits as she extended her hitting streak to six games with a hit in all five games last week. Sierra Smith also walked twice and drove in nine runs on the week. For the week, she posted a 1.067 slugging percentage, a .556 on-base percentage and one stolen base.
Shianne Smith, a freshman right-hander from Gresham, Ore., went 1-0 with a 0.54 ERA and nine strikeouts last week. She was stellar in five relief appearances over the weekend, allowing just one earned run in 13.0 innings of work. The freshman got the win in Friday's win over Southern Utah and then threw 4.1 innings of relief in the nine-inning win over Montana, allowing no earned runs.
Other Hitter of the Week nominees included: Kansas City's Olivia Fluehr hit .467 with a double, two home runs and nine RBIs ... Madison Cathcart of Seattle U hit .588 with two doubles, three home runs and seven RBIs ... Utah Valley's Peyton Angulo hit .583 with two home runs and seven RBIs.
Other Pitcher of the Week nominees included: Grand Canyon's Lexy Coons went 2-0 with a 2.76 ERA and six strikeouts last week ... Lynsey Conner of Kansas City went 1-3 with a 4.67 ERA ... Utah Valley's Addie Jensen went 1-1 with a 2.33 ERA and five strikeouts in two appearances last week.