March 29, 2010
ST. LOUIS -
Illinois State junior second baseman Kara Nelson was perfect at the plate in the Redbirds' doubleheader sweep of Missouri Valley Conference rival Wichita State Saturday. Due to her stellar offensive performance, Nelson earned the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Week honor, as announced by the league office Monday afternoon.
Nelson batted 1.000 (6-for-6) in the two-game series. The Moline, Ill., native hit two doubles and a walk-off game-winning single in the second game of the Redbirds' first conference series. Nelson scored four runs over the two games.
In the first game, Illinois State jumped ahead of Wichita State early when Nelson recorded her first hit of the day on a single to right field and was driven in on a deep shot over the left field wall by Elizabeth Kay to give ISU a quick two-run lead. In the fourth, Nelson recorded her second hit of the game on a single up the middle and was driven in on a homer by Jhavon Hamilton.
The Redbirds got on the board early in the second game, just as they did in the first. Nelson, who is the lead-off batter, reached base with a single to left field. Then, the junior hit a double that bounced off of the top of the left field wall and drove in a Redbird run. Going into the fifth, Nelson recorded her sixth hit of the day with a walk-off single to right field that pushed Brianna Lizen across for the game-winning run.
After competing in all of ISU's 22 games, Nelson holds a .413 batting average with 10 doubles and 33 hits. Nelson leads the Redbirds with the most hits (33) and the most at bats (80).
Nelson is the third Redbird to receive the honor this season. Michelle Henderson (Feb. 22) and Abby Olson (March 1 and March 8) have each earned the honor earlier this season.
Illinois State will host in-state rival Western Illinois for a midweek game Wednesday afternoon before traveling to Cedar Falls, Iowa, to compete against Northern Iowa in a three-game series Friday-Saturday.
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