BATON ROUGE, La. – In a vote by the sports information directors and media relations professionals around the state of Louisiana, Bianka Bell and Allie Walljasper of LSU were named the Louisiana Sports Writers Association Player and Pitcher of the Month for February it was announced today by the organization.
The association, which beginning next week will be awarding a player and pitcher of the week award throughout the rest of the 2015 regular season, will announce the winners every Monday afternoon consisting of players from the state’s softball playing institutions.
This is the first time Bell has earned one of the LSWA’s awards in season now in her junior campaign, while this is the first for Walljasper who is in her first season of collegiate play at LSU.
Bell began the month of February with one of the best starts of her career as she currently is hitting .477 with a team-leading 31 hits and 29 RBIs for the Tigers. Bell is slugging .908 at the plate with a .514 on-base percentage, as 14 of her hits have been for extra bases with seven doubles and seven home runs. Bell leads the team with 10 multi-hit outings and is second on the team in multi-RBI contests with nine, as she opened the year going on an 11-game hitting streak which tied her career record and is the third longest in team history.
Walljasper began her inaugural campaign as a Tiger with a solid start, going 7-0 with six complete games, three shutouts and a save in LSU’s record 21-0 start. Walljasper, who leads the staff in wins, accumulated a 0.51 earned run average in a team-leading 41.1 innings pitched in the circle, allowing just three earned runs with 43 strikeouts to just four walks. She has only given up one hit for extra bases this season, earning five or more strikeouts in five of her eight total appearances so far.