BATON ROUGE – Two conference wins over Alabama helped LSU’s Bianka Bell and Carley Hoover to receive the votes from the Louisiana Sports Writers Association for this week’s state softball honorees.
Bell hit .467 on the week for the Tigers to earn the hitter of the week honors while Hoover had two wins and a save on the week.
Here are the capsules on the winners:
HITTER
BIANKA BELL — LSU
LSU junior Bianka Bell helped lead the Tigers to a series-opening win over a ranked Alabama squad amid a 4-1 week by hitting .467, with a team-leading 1.000 slugging percentage and .579 on-base percentage. Bell had a hit in all five games, as four of her seven hits were for extra bases as she led the team with two doubles and two home runs to drive in six RBIs and score seven times. Bell opened the Alabama series with a three-run home run in the first inning, belting a solo shot in the finale on Sunday. She finished the week with two multi-hit outings, two multi-RBI outings and scored at least twice in three games
PITCHER
CARLEY HOOVER – LSU
LSU sophomore Carley Hoover earned two wins and a save as she helped LSU to a 4-1 week, including an SEC opening series win over Alabama over the weekend. Hoover struck out 18 and allowed just five runs in 16.2 innings of work, combining for a shutout and two seven-inning complete game wins in the process. Hoover came in a 1-0 game in the top of the seventh with the tying run at second and needed just two pitches to preserve the shutout and defeat Longwood 1-0. She held Alabama to just two runs and struck out eight in opening the series with a win against the Crimson Tide, before coming in and helping earn the series by allowing a single run on four hits with eight strikeouts on Sunday, improving her overall record to 10-0 on the season.