Coffel & Schoonover Win NFCA National Player/Pitcher of the Week
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Kentucky Softball team swept the National Fastpitch Coaches’ Association weekly awards as Erin Coffel was named the NFCA National Player of the Week and pitcher Stephanie Schoonover was named the NFCA National Pitcher of the Week, the organization announced on Monday. The award encompasses all games around the country from week five of the college softball season.
Kentucky went 4-0 this past week with a midweek triumph over Dayton in its home opener of the 2023 season followed by a Southeastern Conference series sweep of No. 23 Mizzou in Columbia in which the Wildcats did not allow a run all weekend in 5-0, 5-0 and 6-0 wins over the Tigers.
Junior shortstop Erin Coffel hit .700 on the week as Kentucky opened conference play with a sweep. Coffel hit two home runs on the week, including a go-ahead three-run bomb in the bottom of the sixth inning over Dayton in UK’s home opener followed by a solo shot in UK’s 5-0 game one win over the Tigers. Coffel had at least one RBI in all four games this week and had multiple RBI’s in two of the four contests. Coffel recorded a double in three games, as three of her five doubles on the season were tallied this week. Additionally, Coffel passed Mallory Peyton to stand alone in third on the UK all-time home run list with 44 in her career now.
Stephanie Schoonover went 3-0 in the circle this week and had a save, with wins over Dayton and Missouri twice, in addition to picking up a save versus the Tigers to secure the series in game two. Schoonover threw 19.2 innings without allowing an earned run, and set a new UK record for an SEC opening game with 15 strikeouts on Friday night in UK’s 5-0 win over the Tigers. Schoonover only allowed one runner to reach second base in her first complete-game shutout of the weekend in UK’s Friday night win, and struck out seven batters in her second complete-game shutout of the weekend in the sweep-clinching win of the series Sunday afternoon. Schoonover all together struck out 32 batters with at least three in all of her appearances.
The Wildcats play at Saint Louis on Tuesday at 5 p.m. ET before returning home to host the 2023 John Cropp Classic in Lexington over the weekend.
For the latest on UK Softball, follow the Wildcats on Twitter and Instagram at @UKSoftball.
