Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Hamby earns MVC Softball Pitcher of the Week honors
02/26/2007 | 12:00:00 | Softball
Feb. 26, 2007
By Matt Crouch
www.SIUSalukis.com
ST. LOUIS - For the first time in her career, senior pitcher Ashley Hamby was a recipient of one of the Missouri Valley Conference's weekly awards Monday as she was named MVC Pitcher of the Week for the week of Feb. 19-25.
Hamby, a native of Arnold, Mo., went a perfect 3-0 last weekend at the prestigious NFCA Leadoff Classic, one of the top early-season tournaments in the country, to improve her overall record to 7-1 on the season.
The senior recorded a win over Hofstra (1-0) to give SIU its first shutout of the season, and followed it up with a 12-strikeout performance in a 3-2 win over Southeastern Conference member Auburn (3-2) in a nine-inning affair.
Her 12 strikeouts in the shutout win over Hofstra set a new career high in single-game strikeouts.
On the final day of the tournament, Hamby picked up her second win of the year over a nationally-ranked opponent as she downed No. 20-ranked Florida State (4-1) to finish the tournament as co-champions in the Silver Bracket.
Hamby made use of all four of her appearances as she picked up her first save of the season, relieving Cassidy Scoggins in the seventh inning of SIU's 3-2 win over North Carolina. She fought off a Tar Heel rally to preserve Southern's lead and the win.
For the weekend, she was 3-0 with a save while putting together a 0.58 ERA in her four appearances. She threw three complete games while tallying 24.0 innings pitched, matching that with 24 strikeouts. She gave up just three walks and two earned runs in her time in the circle and had an opponent batting average of .100.
Hamby closed out the weekend by garnering an at-large selection to the NFCA Leadoff Classic All-Tournament Team.
The No. 24-ranked Southern Illinois University softball team (12-3) returns to action March 3-4 as the Salukis are set to compete in their home tournament, the Kay Brechtelsbauer Southern Classic.
Action in the two-day tournament is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m., Saturday, March 3. SIU is competing along with Western Illinois, Ball State, Ohio and Indiana.
