Green Bay's Michalkiewicz, Oakland's Waalkes Collect Horizon League Softball Weekly Honors

INDIANAPOLIS –Green Bay sophomore Marissa Michalkiewicz (Appleton, Wis.) is the Horizon League softball Player of the Week, while Oakland’s Kaley Waalkes (Grandville, Mich.) is the Horizon League softball Pitcher of the Week for the week of Feb. 24-March 2.

The Phoenix began their 2014 campaign as the team traveled south to Bowling Green, Kentucky for the Hilltopper Spring Classic. The team played four games over the course of two days, coming home with a 3-1 record. Green Bay defeated Western Kentucky 6-5, Indiana State 4-2 and Northern Iowa 3-1. The squad fell to IUPUI 3-0 for the only loss of the Classic.

Michalkiewicz finished the weekend with a .429 batting average and a 1.000 slugging percentage after starting all four games for Green Bay. The sophomore drove in a team best seven RBI while scoring three runs in her 6-for-14 efforts at the plate. In the season opener, she went 2-for-4 against Western Kentucky with a double, triple and knocked in five runs. Against Northern Iowa, she hit a solo home run while going 2-for-3 at the plate.

Oakland went 8-1 during its spring trip as the team traveled south to Florida to compete against Ave Maria, Eastern Michigan, FGCU, Quinnipiac, St. Bonaventure, Mount St. Mary’s, Campbell and CCSU. The Grizzles went on a seven game winning streak until falling to Campbell 5-4 in eight innings.

Waalkes led Oakland in the circle starting five of the nine games during the spring trip. She went undefeated on the mound, picking up five wins in four complete games against Ave Maria, FGCU, St. Bonaventure, Mount St. Mary’s and CCSU. Over her 35 innings pitched, Waalkes held a 1.40 earned run average while holding opponents to a .354 batting against average. The freshman also struck out 20 batters.

Green Bay takes a break from the field before competing in the USF Michele Smith Spring Break Tournament beginning Friday, March 14. Oakland travels to Kentucky to play a three game series with Morehead State starting Saturday, March 8.

Softball Player of the Week:
Feb. 3: Erika Polidori, Oakland
Feb. 10: Amanda Wisniewski, Valparaiso
Feb. 17: Miranda Castiglione, Youngstown State
Feb. 24: Marissa Michalkiewicz, Green Bay

Softball Pitcher of the Week:
Feb. 3: Susan Knight, Cleveland State
Feb. 10: Bridget Boyle, UIC
Feb. 17: Casey Crozier, Youngstown State
Feb. 24: Kaley Waalkes, Oakland