April 20, 2010

Rio's Smith Earns Mid-South Conference Softball Pitcher of the Week award

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The University of Rio Grande's Anna Smith is the Mid-South Conference Softball Pitcher of the Week, the conference announced on Monday.

The pitcher of the week award is the second of the season for Smith. She captured the honor previously on March 8. Senior centerfielder Leah Hamman also garnered an MSC Player of the Week honor last week. 

Smith collected two wins and a save last week while allowing just one run to earn MSC Pitcher of the Week honors. The Ross, Ohio, native, scattered four hits while allowing just a single unearned run in her 16 innings of work.

The sophomore tallied 20 strikeouts while hurling a pair of complete-game shutouts.

Smith is second in the MSC in innings pitched (165), third in strikeouts (152), and fifth in wins (14).

"She had a big weekend at St. Catharine with two wins and then came in to get the save (in the final game)," said Rio Grande head coach David Pyles. "She threw the ball real well and we're going to need Anna throwing like that late in the season. It looks like she's kind of reaching her peak, along with the team."

"Things are looking good for us at this stage of the season," he added. "This is the second time this year for Anna (to win this award) and that's a big honor, because there is some tough pitching in the conference. She's going up against some very tough competition to win this award." 

Rio Grande is 26-18 overall and 15-11 in the Mid-South Conference. The RedStorm have a busy week with home games versus Cedarville (April 20) and Pikeville College (April 22) and at Shawnee State (April 25).