GLVC Announces Softball Weekly Award Recipients
INDIANAPOLIS – Quincy University’s Torie Bunzell (Utica, Ill.) is the Great Lakes Valley Conference Softball Pitcher of the Week and Northern Kentucky University’s Jessica Farris (Independence, Ky.) is the Great Lakes Valley Conference Softball Player of the Week.
Bunzell, a sophomore pitcher for the Lady Hawks, guided her club to three wins last week, including a pair over Missouri-St. Louis in what was a battle for first-place in the GLVC standings.
On the week, Bunzell was 3-1 with a 0.55 ERA. She posted four complete games and allowed just two runs and nine hits in over 25 innings of work while striking out 50 opposing batters.
In a doubleheader with Rockhurst on Wednesday, Bunzell won the opening game, 1-0, by allowing just one hit and striking out 16 batters. She took the loss in the second game, a 1-0 decision, but surrendered just four hits and one earned run, while striking out 11.
Bunzell returned on Saturday to post a win in each game of the Lady Hawks’ doubleheader sweep over Missouri-St. Louis. In the first game of the day, Bunzell struck out 17 batters and allowed just one hit in Quincy’s 2-0 victory.
In the nightcap, an 11-1 Quincy win, Bunzell pitched five innings and allowed just three hits, one earned run and posted six strikeouts.
On the week, Bunzell became the school’s single-season record holder for strikeouts and became just the 65th pitcher in NCAA Division II history to record 300 strikeouts in a season. On the year, she is 20-9 with a 1.20 ERA and has notched 311 strikeouts.
Quincy (23-20) is in first-place in the GLVC standings at 14-3 and has won 12 of its last 14 games. The Lady Hawks will face Truman State, UW-Parkside and Lewis this week.
Farris, a freshman shortstop for the Norse, hit over .400 last week in helping her club to a 6-2 record. Northern Kentucky posted a 4-2 mark in league play with Farris recording multiple hits in four of the contests.
On the week, Farris hit .464 (13-28) with 11 RBIs, five runs scored, three doubles and two home runs. She posted a .786 slugging percentage and recorded a hit in each contest.
In doubleheader action against Saint Joseph’s on Wednesday, Farris was 3-for-7 with six RBIs and two runs scored. In NKU’s 6-5 loss in the nightcap, Farris belted a grand slam late in the contest to pull the Norse to within one.
She returned in NKU’s sweep over Lewis on Saturday to go 4-for-7 with two RBIs, two runs scored, two doubles and scored the game-winning run in the eighth inning of NKU’s 1-0 win in the nightcap.
The Norse also notched a pair of victories over UW-Parkside on Sunday and Farris again shined in the victories. In the two games, she was 4-for-8 with a three-run home run, a double and two runs scored.
Farris extended her team-best hitting streak to nine games, the longest of the season for the Norse, and is now hitting .323 with 22 RBIs, three home runs and nine doubles on the year.
Northern Kentucky (24-20) is 12-10 in the GLVC this season and currently in sixth place in the league standings. The Norse will face Bellarmine, Tiffin and Ohio Dominican this week.
Other top performers in GLVC last week included Bellarmine’s Jordan Basham, Indianapolis’ Maggie Swanson and Megan Russell, Missouri S&T’s Maggie Schroeder, Northern Kentucky’s April Ehlers, Rockhurst’s Leslie Furdek and Heather Robertson, Southern Indiana’s Sara Loete and Dawn McClellan and UW-Parkside’s Lisa Casey.