OKLAHOMA CITY — A 2-0 performance in the circle with a 0.35 ERA coupled with a .455 batting average, a home run and three RBI from its ace pitcher helped Stetson take the series win over Atlantic Sun Conference foe Lipscomb this week. For her efforts, Meredith Owen (Jackson, Miss.) is this week’s USA Softball National Collegiate Player of the Week. With the pair of wins, Stetson improved to 31-9 on the season, 15-5 in conference play and earned votes in this weeks ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 poll.
"I am so amazed, honored and humbled," Owen said. "I owe it all to my amazing team as well as my incredible coaches. We have all worked so hard for this season, and I am just excited to be able to share this honor with them."
On Friday, Owen tossed a six-hit shutout in which she allowed
just one runner to reach third base and retired the final seven batters in a
row to garner her seventh shutout of the season. As remarkable of a performance
as it was, the senior had one of her greatest outings of her career on
Saturday. A scoreless game in the through the fourth inning, Owen
connected for a two-run home run to give Stetson a 2-0 lead. Lipscomb would
fight back to tie the game and send it to extra innings. In the bottom of the 10th
with the Hatters trailing 3-2 and down to their last strike, Owen delivered a
game-tying single to center field evening the score.
The game went
13-total innings with Owen going the distance in the circle. With
international tiebreak rules in effect, Owen pitched out of second-and-third,
no-out situations in both the 11th and 12th innings, and then she worked out of
a second-and-third, one-out situation in the 13th without allowing a single to
run to score. For the game, she held the Bisons to just 1-for-17 with runners
in scoring position and 0-for-12 in two-out situations. She threw 157 pitches
and allowed just one hit in extra innings, a bunt single.
"It
is a tremendous honor to have Meredith selected as the USA Softball National Collegiate
Player of the Week," Stetson head coach Frank Griffin said. "She
gave an unbelievable performance in a key conference series for us last weekend
both at the plate and in the circle, and the recognition is
well-deserved."
For the week, Owen held the Bisons,
one of the top hitting teams in the conference, to a .176 batting average over
20 innings of work. She lowered her ERA to an NCAA-best 0.73, and her 19 wins
leads the Atlantic Sun. This is the first USA
Softball National Collegiate Player of the Week honor for Meredith and the
first for a Stetson Hatter.
2014
USA Softball National Collegiate Players of the Week
Week 1 (Feb. 6-9): Kylee Lahners - Washington - Junior - Infielder– Laguna
Hills, Calif.
Week 2
(Feb. 10 -16): Aimee Creger - Tulsa - Senior - Pitcher– Yukon, Okla.
Week 3
(Feb. 17-23): Ally Carda – UCLA – Junior – Pitcher – Elk Grove, Calif.
Week 4
(Feb. 24 – March 2): Cheridan Hawkins – Oregon – Sophomore – Anderson, Calif.
Week 5
(March 3-9): Dallas Escobedo - Arizona State - Senior - Pitcher– Glendale,
Ariz.
Week 6
(March 10-16): Alex Hugo – Georgia – Sophomore – Infielder – Olathe, Kan.
Week 7
(March 17-23): Jaclyn Traina – Alabama – Senior – Pitcher – Naples, Fla.
Week 8
(March 24 – 30): Ellen Renfroe – Tennessee – Senior – Pitcher – Jackson, Tenn.
Week 9
(March 31 – April 6): Katiyana Mauga – Arizona – Freshman – Outfielder – San
Diego, Calif.
Week
10 (April 7 – 13): Michelle Mueller – Wisconsin – Senior – Third Base –
LaCrosse, Wis.
Week 11 (April 14 – 20): Meredith Owen – Stetson – Senior – Pitcher – Jackson, Miss.
About
ASA
The Amateur Softball Association, founded in 1933, is the National Governing
Body of softball in the United States and a member of the United States Olympic
Committee. The ASA has become one of the nation’s largest sports organizations
and now sanctions competition in every state through a network of 76 local
associations. The ASA has grown from a few hundred teams in the early days to
over 165,000 teams today, representing a membership of more than 2.5 million.
For more information on the ASA, visit http://www.asasoftball.com/.
About USA
Softball
USA Softball is the brand created, operated and owned by the ASA that links the
USA Men’s, Women’s, Junior Boys’ and Junior Girls’ National Team programs
together. USA Softball is responsible for training, equipping and promoting
these four National Teams to compete in international and domestic
competitions. The USA Softball Women’s National Team is one of the only two
women’s sports involved in the Olympic movement to capture three consecutive
gold medals at the Olympic Games since 1996. The U.S. women have also won nine
World Championship titles including the last seven consecutive as well as
claimed six World Cup of Softball titles. For more information about USA
Softball, please visit http://www.usasoftball.com.
About the NCAA Women’s College World Series
The ASA Hall of Fame Stadium serves as the home to the NCAA Women’s College
World Series (WCWS). For the 24th year, the top eight college teams
in the nation will head to Oklahoma City and complete for a National
Championship title. Last year, over 70,000 fans attended the WCWS. Experience
It Live May 29 to June 4 in Oklahoma City. Tickets for the 2014 NCAA WCWS are
on sale now, click here to
purchase your tickets and make a date with champions!