April 7, 2008
ST. LOUIS -
For both her offensive effort at the plate and her performance in the circle in five games played last week, junior pitcher/first baseman Amber Smith of the Illinois State softball team was named the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Week, as announced by the conference office Monday. The weekly honor is the second of the season for Illinois State and marked the 37th time in program history that a Redbird softball player has been honored as The Valley Player of the Week, the second-most player of the week honors for a school in conference history.
The Valley Player of the Week honor is the fourth in Smith's two-plus-year Redbird softball career. Smith earned State Farm MVC Player of the Week recognition once last season (April 16, 2007), and received the award twice in 2006 (April 10 and May 8, 2006).
"Amber had a great performance for us last week; by far the best week she has had this season, and really her best week overall since last season," said Illinois State head coach Melinda Fischer. "She had an outstanding freshman season (2006), and she was very consistent at the plate last year, but she really stepped it up, both at the plate and in the circle, this past week."
Smith batted a team-high .636 (7-for-11) with runners on base in five games played last week, which included a .625 (5-for-8) average with runners in scoring position. Smith complimented those statistics with a .625 batting average for the week, which included a team-high 10 hits, four RBI and 11 total bases, as she propelled Illinois State to Valley sweeps of Indiana State and Evansville.
In a doubleheader at Indiana State April 2, Smith had one of the biggest combined hitting performance of her career, as she went 6-for-8 in the doubleheader, which included three RBI.
Smith followed that performance at Indiana State with a .500 batting average (4-for-8) in three games played last weekend against Evansville, where she picked up an additional two RBI, scored two runs and had a team-best .667 on-base percentage. With a total of five RBI on the week, the Fairfield, Calif., native moved into sole possession of third place on the Illinois State career RBI list with 104.
Earning the start in the circle three times last week for Illinois State, Smith also had a breakout pitching performance for the Redbirds, as she went 3-0 with a team-best 0.79 earned-run average (ERA). She allowed just eight earned runs in 17.2 innings pitched, which lowered her season ERA from 2.48 entering the weekend to 2.11. In the process, Smith improved her season record in the circle from a two-games-under-.500 mark (4-6) prior to the Indiana State series, to a team-best 7-6 mark on the season.
Smith and Illinois State will return to action Wednesday for a key midweek regional matchup against Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa. First pitch from Pearl Field is scheduled for 4 p.m.
