BATON ROUGE – Louisiana-Lafayette and LSU have both opened their softball season with strong performances and the two teams shared the first Louisiana Sports Writers Association honors for softball, the Player of the Month for games played in February.
The weekly softball honors will start next week.
Lexie Elkins of UL-Lafayette took Hitter of the Month after hitting .561 with 11 home runs and 26 RBI, while LSU’s Carley Hoover and Alex Stewart of UL-Lafayette tied for the most votes for Pitcher of the Month. Hoover won each of her five starts in the month, while Stewart was 7-0 in February.
The voting was conducted by the softball school media relations representatives and they could nomination but not vote for their own players.
Here are the capsules on the winners:
HITTER OF THE MONTH —
LEXIE ELKINS – UL-LAFAYETTE – Sr., C
Hit .561 with 11 home runs and 26 RBI in leading the No. 6-ranked Ragin’ Cajuns to a 14-1 start…For the month of February, was the nation’s leader in home runs (11), home runs per game (0.73), and slugging percentage (1.439)…Named Sun Belt Conference Student-Athlete of the Week, Louisville/Slugger NFCA Division I National Player of the Week and USA Softball Collegiate National Player of the Week on Feb. 16 after finishing 10-for-15 (.667) at the plate with five home runs, 14 RBI and a 1.800 slugging percentage in the Ragin’ Cajuns season-opening weekend at the Sand Dollar Classic in Gulf Shores…Capped off the three matchups with No. 5 Oregon in the Louisiana Classics with a home run in each contest that the Cajuns faced All-American pitcher Cheridan Hawkins…Homered in nine of the Cajuns 15 games…Hit safely in 13 of the 15 games, highlighted by a 10-game hitting streak Feb. 14-27…Led the Ragin’ Cajuns with seven multiple-hit games and seven multiple-RBI games.
PITCHER OF THE MONTH
CARLEY HOOVER – LSU
Hoover started her sophomore campaign at LSU by winning each of her five starts, holding an earned run average of 1.93 with a shutout, three complete games and 48 strikeouts in 29 innings of work. Hoover is tied for the pitching staff lead in appearances with seven, as she has given up just eight earned runs and 28 total hits. She has two double-digit strikeout games this year, as against Texas Tech she fanned 15 which is a career high and is in the top 10 of most in a seven-inning game in LSU history.
ALEX STEWART UL-LAFAYETTE — Jr., P
Posted a 7-0 mark, earning the decision in each appearance, with two wins over No. 5 Oregon in the Louisiana Classics…Started the season with 35 2/3 consecutive walk-free innings and issued only two walks through 42 innings pitched…Finished February ranked No. 8 nationally in fewest walks allowed per seven innings…Her seven wins ranked No. 11 nationally…Tallied 43 strikeouts and yielded only 15 runs (12 earned) in 42 innings…Posted a 3-0 record and allowed only one earned run while pitching 14 of the 29 innings that the Ragin’ Cajuns pitching staff worked at the Sand Dollar Classic in Gulf Shores…Did not issue a walk over her 14 innings of work and collected 16 strikeouts in Gulf Shores…Wins over No. 5 Oregon marked her first two career wins as a starting pitcher against a ranked team…Limited No. 5 Oregon to six runs (five earned) over 14 innings pitched and never trailed in either start against the fifth-ranked Ducks…Struck out a season-high nine batters in both games of a doubleheader vs. Texas Tech on Feb. 25.