BATON ROUGE — After sweeping the Southeastern Conference and Louisiana Pitcher of the Week honors on Monday, LSU junior Emily Turner was named the USA Softball National Player of the Week, it was announced on Tuesday.
Turner went 2-0 in the circle for the Tigers, defeating No. 3 Alabama twice on the road, the highest-ranked team she has defeated in her career. She ended the Crimson Tide’s perfect record in Southeastern Conference play at 15-0 with her first win and gave them their second loss in consecutive days, becoming the first pitcher to beat them twice this season.
“What an incredible honor, not only for Emily, but also for our program,” said LSU head coach Yvette Girouard. “Emily deserves all of the positives she is seeing in her performances because she is literally the hardest working athlete I have ever coached.”
The Chula Vista, Calif., native held the 16th best scoring offense in the nation to its lowest run totals since being shutout by then No. 1 Arizona on March 18. In her first complete-game win, she allowed a solo home run to the second batter of the game and did not allow a base runner to reach third the remainder of the contest, with only two runners reaching scoring position in the game.
In her final complete-game win, she had a no-hitter broken up after three and a third innings with a solo home run. She allowed only three hits the entire game, the second fewest hits by Alabama in a game on the season, facing only four over the minimum in the game. Holding a one-run lead going into the bottom of the seventh inning, she retired the final three Crimson Tide batters in order to end the game.
“This was definitely an unexpected honor,” said Turner. “It is easy to pitch behind a team that has confidence, because if it were not for them hitting the ball, then I could not be as successful.”
This is the first career USA Softball National Player of the Week honor for Turner and the second in LSU history. Former Tiger All-American Kristin Schmidt earned the same award on March 2, 2004.
The USA Softball National Player of the Week is designed to acknowledge outstanding athletic achievement by individuals on a weekly basis. Each recipient of the USA Softball National Player of the Week Award will receive an engraved plaque and will be nationally recognized for their accomplishments. A complete list of winners can be found on the USA Softball web site at www.usasoftball.com.