Mid-Continent Conference Players and Pitcher of the Week

Lindi Kennedy

5-7, Junior, INF, R/R - Las Vegas, Nevada

May 8 – Southern Utah SS/3B Lindi Kennedy has been named this week’s Mid-Continent Conference Player of the Week for her performance in SUU’s sweep of UMKC last weekend.

              Kennedy, a junior from Las Vegas, Nev. (Cimarron Memorial HS) led the Thunderbirds in batting average, slugging average, total bases, on-base-percentage and runs scored last week. She hit .700 (7-for-10), with two doubles, a home run, four runs scored and three RBI during the three-game weekend. She also had at least two hits in each game.

              Her home run proved to provide the only scoring in the series opener Friday night as the Thunderbirds won that one 1-0. The second-inning blast was her 14th of the season, an SUU record.

              In the second game of the series, an 8-1 SUU win, she went 3-for-4 at the plate with a pair of doubles while in the finale she went 2-for-3.

              The honor was Kennedy’s second of the season and it gave SUU five Mid-Con players of the week this year in addition to one pitcher of the week award.

Cassie Cresswell

5-6, Senior, OF, R/S - Peoria, Arizona

April 30 – Southern Utah centerfielder Cassie Cresswell has been named the Mid-Continent Conference softball Player of the Week for her performance in five games last week.

Cresswell, a senior from Peoria, Ariz. (Sunrise Mountain HS/Phoenix CC) helped the Thunderbirds to a 3-2 week, including a 3-0 mark in conference play, by batting .444 (8-for-18) with two home runs, six runs scored, five RBI and three stolen bases in three attempts. She also fielded her position perfectly.

Cresswell’s efforts against Mid-Con opponent IUPUI helped the Thunderbirds to a sweep of the Jaguars as she went 5-for-11 (.455) with a home run, five runs scored, three RBI and was 2-for-2 stealing bases. She also went 3-for-7 with a home run, two RBI, a stolen base and a run scored in a two-game set against BYU last week.

The sweep of IUPUI moved SUU into third place in the league standings and virtually assured the Thunderbirds a spot in the Mid-Con tournament, which begins May 11 in Shreveport, La.

Cresswell’s honor gives the Thunderbirds four Players of the Week and one Pitcher of the Week this year. She joins teammates Erin Niederhauser, Marci Pratt and Lindi Kennedy as Mid-Con Players of the Week, and Marissa Gonzalez, who was named Pitcher of the Week, this season.

Marci Pratt

5-5, Senior, C/IF, R/R - Taylorsville, Utah

Feb. 26 -- Southern Utah’s Marci Pratt has been named this week’s Mid-Continent Conference Player of the Week for her performance in the Southern Utah Invitational softball tournament.

              After starting the team’s first 10 games at catcher, Pratt, a senior infielder/catcher from Taylorsville, Utah, moved to shortstop last weekend, where she started all five games during the tournament. She fielded her position perfectly in four of the five games while hitting at a .562 clip (9-of-16) with three home runs, three doubles and a triple. She also scored seven runs and drove in seven more as SUU won four of its five games.

              Pratt’s three round-trippers on the weekend give her seven for the season, which is over half-way to her own SUU single-season school record of 13.

              Pratt is the Thunderbirds’ third Mid-Con player of the week this season. She joins Lindi Kennedy and Erin Niederhauser, who earned the award the past two weeks.

Erin Niederhauser

5-6, Senior, OF, R/R - Heber City, Utah

Feb. 19 -- SUU’s Erin Niederhauser was named this week’s Mid-Continent Conference Player of the Week for her performance in the Louisville Slugger Invitational.

Niederhauser, a senior outfielder from Heber City, Utah (Wasatch HS), earned the honor after batting .555 with two doubles, two home runs, 10 RBI and five runs scored. Niederhauser had 10 hits in 18 at-bats overall, including a pair of 3-for-4, 4-RBI efforts, against Wright State and Illinois State. She also went 2-for-3 at the plate against Sacramento State.

Lindi Kennedy

5-7, Junior, INF, R/R - Las Vegas, Nevada

Feb. 12 -- Southern Utah’s Lindi Kennedy has been named the Mid-Continent Conference player of the week February 12 for her performance in the BYU/UVSC Tournament.

Kennedy, a junior transfer from Brigham Young University, averaged .462 at the plate, going 6-for-13 with a double and a home run. She started all four games at third base, scored four and drove in six runs, went 4-for-4 against UVSC and drove in the first two runs to spark the Thunderbirds to their first win of the season, a 14-6, mercy rule decision. She also went 2-for-3 against Utah State.

Marissa Gonzalez

5-6, Senior, RHP/INF, R/R - Rancho Palos Verdes, California

Feb. 12 -- Southern Utah’s Marissa Gonzalez earned Mid-Continent Conference Pitcher of the Week honors February 12 after her performance at the BYU/UVSC Tournament, .

Gonzalez, a senior transfer from Cypress College, threw 10.2 innings in two appearances and picked up her first win. She started and pitched a complete game in the Thunderbirds’ first win of the season, a 14-6 mercy-rule, six inning game win over UVSC, when she struck out nine and walked just three. She also threw 4.2 innings of relief work.