BATON ROUGE, La. – In a vote by the sports information directors and media relations professionals around the state of Louisiana, Sydney Booker of Southeastern Louisiana and Carley Hoover of LSU were named the Louisiana Sports Writers Association Player and Pitcher of the Week it was announced today by the organization.
This is the first player and pitcher of the week award for both Booker and Hoover, as the Lady Lion honoree becomes the first Southeastern player to earn the nod in 2015, while the Tiger hurler is the fourth LSU pitcher to claim the state’s top pitching nod this season.
Booker helped Southeastern sweep Lamar and move in to a share of the Southland Conference lead this week, batting .900 with two RBI, five runs scored, a double and a triple. She had three hits in each of Southeastern’s wins over the Cardinals, who came to Hammond with a 10-2 league record. In Saturday’s 6-4 win, she drove in the game-tying run and set up Kinsey Nichols’ game-winning home run. In her first season in Hammond, she leads SLU with seven home runs, 40 RBI, seven triples and nine doubles and a .777 slugging percentage.
Hoover picked up two wins in the circle for LSU on the week, holding an earned run average of 0.62 after allowing only a single run in 11.1 innings of work with 18 strikeouts and a .125 opponent batting average against ULM and Ole Miss. Against ULM, Hoover came on down by two with runners at second and third and proceeded to throw three consecutive strikes to earn her first of 11 strikeouts that night which is a new career high. She threw 14 consecutive strikes against ULM and had 73 on 97 total pitches in the game. In the start against the Rebels, she scattered three hits and struck out seven in the shortened contest, not allowing a runner past first on the day.
LSWA Softball Player of the Week
February: Bianka Bell, LSU
March 9: Bianka Bell, LSU
March 16: Bianka Bell, LSU
March 23: Bianka Bell, LSU
March 30: Lexie Elkins, Louisiana-Lafayette
April 6: Sydney Booker, Southeastern Louisiana
LSWA Softball Pitcher of the Week
February: Allie Walljasper, LSU
March 9: Baylee Corbello, LSU
March 16: Kelsee Selman, LSU
March 23: Christina Hamilton, Louisiana-Lafayette
March 30: Alex Stewart, Louisiana-Lafayette
April 6: Carley Hoover, LSU