INDIANAPOLIS --- University of Illinois at Chicago junior shortstop Brooke Frydendall has been named the Horizon League Softball Player of the Week, while Wright State University junior lefthander Sharon Palma has earned Pitcher-of-the-Week accolades for the week ending April 26, the League office announced Monday (April 27).
Player of the Week
Brooke Frydendall, UIC
Jr. * SS
Corona, Calif./Corona
Frydendall batted .429 (9-for-21) with five runs-batted-in and six runs scored as League-leading UIC (22-22, 14-3 Horizon League) went 4-2 last week, including taking 2-of-3 from second-place Cleveland State University over the weekend. She was 6-for-12 with three RBI against the Vikings, including 3-for-4 in Sunday's rubber game, to boost the Flames' lead to a full game entering the final week of the regular season. The weekly honor is the first of Frydendall's career.
Pitcher of the Week
Sharon Palma, Wright State
Jr. * LHP
Grand Rapids, Mich./Northview
Palma won all three games over the weekend in Wright State's series sweep at Loyola University Chicago, allowing 17 hits and six earned runs with 11 strikeouts in 19 2/3 innings. In Saturday's series opener, she threw a nine-inning complete game with six strikeouts in WSU's 8-2 victory. Palma also struck out four in five innings in Sunday's finale for the third-place Raiders (29-17, 15-6 Horizon League). The award is Palma's first of the season and second of her career.
Wright State hosts UIC in a three-game series Saturday and Sunday at Dayton to conclude the regular season. The Raiders are percentage points behind Cleveland State (26-15, 14-5 Horizon League) for second place.
Comprised of 10 public and private institutions of higher learning, the Horizon League is an NCAA Division I athletics conference that sponsors 19 intercollegiate championships and is headquartered in Indianapolis. The League and its member institutions aspire to teach young people, through athletic competition, the value of learning, service to others and personal responsibility.
Horizon League teams have enjoyed national success in a variety of sports in recent years, most notably in men's basketball, in which its teams have advanced to the Regional semi-finals of the NCAA Championship three times in the past seven seasons.
Tags: UIC - Softball · Wright State - Softball