The Sun Conference Players of the Week 2/25/19
The Sun Conference honored the following student-athletes as Players of the Week for their respective sports in competitions ending by February 25, 2019.
BASEBALL
Pitcher: Christopher Coipel, St. Thomas
Christopher Coipel pitched the sixth-ranked St. Thomas University Bobcats to a series victory over No. 24 Keiser. The junior went into the eighth inning, while pitching a shutout and not allowing a base-runner until the fifth inning as STU cruised to a 5-0 win.
Player: Luis Esteban, Webber International
Esteban finished with eight hits, eight runs, seven RBI's and three home runs on the week. He had seven hits, seven runs and seven RBI's just in the three-game series against Ave Maria, and he was 4-for-5 with six RBI's, five runs, two home runs and two walks in the final game of the series on Saturday.
GOLF
Men: George Daniels, Webber International
Junior George Daniels (75-77; 152) led the Webber men with a tie for 12th place out of 49 total individuals at the Georgetown College Invite at World Golf Village, securing the lowest finish on the leaderboard in any tournament for the Warriors so far this season.
Women: Samantha Fuller, Keiser
Samantha Fuller won her fourth tournament of the season and second of the spring after carding a one-over. She recorded rounds of 72 and 73. With Fuller's victory, the sophomore is tied for the second most victories in a season, two short of the record set by Elsa Westin in 2014/15 season with six.
SOFTBALL
Pitcher: Aylin Naranjo, Ave Maria
Naranjo continued to be one of Ave Maria's top pitchers in the opening weeks of the season, tossing eleven innings without allowing an earned run this past week. The freshman tossed three shutout innings against NCAA Division II Lynn University on Tuesday, and then threw a complete game three-hitter over eight innings on her 19th birthday against Point Park.
Player: Natassja Hatcher, USCB
Hatcher had a great week at the plate, hitting for .500 and picking up 6 RBIs. Hatcher went 5 of 7 (.714) in the two games against #20 Truett-McConnell, picking up 4 RBIs. She continued to produce for the Sand Sharks during the weekend series with Rio Grande (RV) and Reinhardt, picking up an additional 4 hits and 2 RBIs. Additionally, Hatcher performed well behind the plate picking up 27 putouts on 27 attempts.
TENNIS
Men: Hugo Hasegawa, Webber International
Hugo Hasegawa went undefeated on the week and led his team to an undefeated week as well. On Saturday, he beat the No. 35 nationally-ranked player from St Thomas, Kevin Cubela, who is also ranked No. 13 in the region. In all, Hasegawa went undefeated at No. 1 singles as his other two wins in the top spot were three-set comeback victories.
Women: Megan Kelson, Webber International
Freshman Megan Kelson won the deciding point for the Warriors against Warner, winning an epic-three set comeback on the final match of the night to clinch it. Playing at No. 5 singles for the first time in her young career, Kelson dropped a close first set in a tiebreaker at 7-6 after having a chance to win it up 5-4, and then with the match on the line for the Warriors, Kelson came back from down 4-1 in the second set to win it 6-4 and set up the deciding third set. Kelson continued her inspired play by winning each of the first five games in the third set, giving her 10 straight wins at that point before finishing it off with a 6-1 third-set victory. It was the first win for Webber over Warner in the last six years. In all, Kelson went undefeated in conference play this week playing up a spot from normal and winning her first two singles matches of the season, and she also went undefeated in doubles action all week.