UIC's Hernandez, Wright State's DeWitt Take Home Horizon League Softball Honors

INDIANAPOLIS – UIC freshman shortstop Natalie Hernandez (Glendora, Calif.) has been named the Horizon League Player of the Week, while Wright State freshman pitcher Krystian DeWitt (Garden Grove, Calif.) has been tabbed the League Pitcher of the Week, for the week beginning Feb. 7.

Both UIC and Wright State opened the 2011 season with winning weekends, as the Flames went 3-2 at the Sportco Kickoff Classic with victories over Mississippi State, host UNLV and UC-Riverside.  The Raiders captured the Belmont/Hampton Inn-Brentwood Tournament title, going 4-0 against Austin Peay, Belmont and IUPUI.

In her third and fourth collegiate games, Hernandez lifted UIC to a 4-2 victory over UNLV and a 5-3 triumph over UC-Riverside.  Against the Rebels, the shortstop knotted the game in the top of the fourth inning with a two-run homer, the first of her career.  In the nightcap versus the Highlanders, the freshman plated the go-ahead runs with a bases-clearing triple in the bottom of the sixth as UIC erased a 2-1 deficit.

Hernandez finished the tournament 5-for-12 (.417) with a triple, home run and six RBI.

DeWitt did not allow an earned run in two appearances in the pitching circle for the Raiders, going 12.0 innings to pick up victories over Austin Peay and IUPUI.

In her collegiate debut, DeWitt went five innings, allowing just two singles and a walk while striking out six Lady Govs in a 3-1 win.  The next day, the freshman hurled a complete-game shutout versus the Jaguars, again permitting just two singles.

The right-hander gave up just one unearned run in 12.0 innings, holding her opponents to a .105 batting average.  

While Wright State is off this weekend, UIC heads to Orlando, Fla., for five games in the University of Central Florida Tournament.  The Flames open with contests on Feb. 18 against Delaware and UCF before meeting Miami University and Notre Dame on Saturday.