BATON ROUGE — Junior Dani Hofer was named the Southeastern Conference Pitcher of the Week, it was announced by the league office on Monday.
Hofer went 3-0 last week, earning the win in all three of LSU’s games. The hurler picked up a pair of complete-game wins, including a shutout, and a win in relief against Auburn, which was receiving votes in both national polls. In her two complete-game efforts, she allowed only three hits in each game, completing the shutout in the series finale.
Limiting Auburn to just a .137 batting average against her for the weekend, she surrendered only one run before closing out the weekend with nine shutout innings for a 0.40 earned run average and 23 strikeouts. In the series opener, Hofer recorded 15 strikeouts, one shy of her career high.
With the second game tied at three in the ninth, the Safety Harbor, Fla., native came on and allowed a lone single to the leadoff batter before retiring the final nine outs in a row to earn the win. In the series finale, she recorded her second complete-game shutout of the season as no Auburn player reached third base against her in the contest.
With the best winning percentage by any pitcher in LSU’s storied pitching history, Hofer is 15-2 this season with a 0.99 earned run average. She has recorded 166 strikeouts in 106 innings pitched to average nearly 11 strikeouts per game in her 20 appearances.
This is the second SEC Pitcher of the Week honor of the season for Hofer, who also earned the award two weeks ago. This is the third overall conference weekly honor of the season for LSU.
The Tigers, who remain undefeated at 6-0 in conference play, return to action on Wednesday as LSU hosts Mississippi State in an SEC doubleheader. The games will begin at 4 p.m. at Tiger Park. The Tigers then travel to Gainesville, Fla., for a showdown with the SEC East’s top team Florida. The three-game series begins with a doubleheader on Saturday at noon CDT before concluding with a single game on Sunday at noon CDT.