ST. LOUIS – The Missouri Valley Conference announced on Monday that Illinois State's Mack Leonard has been named the league's Newcomer of the Week for her performance this past weekend at the FAU/FIU Parent's Weekend Tournament.
Leonard paced the Redbirds this weekend in ISU's final pre-conference tournament of the season, commanding the batter's box and the pitcher's circle. The rookie turned in an impressive .438 batting average, going 7-for-16 with three runs scored, a double, two RBI and a team-high eight total bases. She also turned in a .500 slugging percentage and .526 on base percentage, to go with a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage.
In the circle, Leonard tossed her first complete game for her first career win as a Redbird, guiding ISU to a 6-2 victory over tournament host Florida Atlantic, holding the Owls scoreless through the first six innings. She posted a team-best 2.17 ERA in two appearances, turning in 9.2 innings of work, allowing just three runs and striking out six.
"I feel like for the last few weeks Mack has really started to display some consistency for us in her offense and her approaches in her at-bats, and certainly had a great weekend for us. In the circle, she really did the same thing by showing consistency in her ability to locate and move the ball, as she put together a pretty good outing in her first complete game against a well-respected FAU team."
ON DECK
Illinois State is set to open conference play on the road this weekend when it travels to Evansville, Indiana, to take on the Purple Aces in a three-game series.
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