ST. LOUIS – The Missouri Valley Conference announced on Monday that Illinois State's Alyssa Wiebel and Morgan Day have been selected as the league's Player and Pitcher of the Week, respectively.
Wiebel led the way at the dish this weekend for Illinois State, as the Redbirds went undefeated at Florida Atlantic's "Strike-Out Cancer" Tournament. The senior went .500 (5-for-10) at the plate, with a pair of runs, four doubles, four RBIs, one walk and a home run. In ISU's tournament-opening game against Long Island, Wiebel recorded a double and a home run – her third of the season, before returning to the field 30 minutes later and delivering two more doubles (in the same inning). Wiebel's game-winning RBI double in the bottom of the eighth against North Florida on Sunday helped the Redbirds close the weather-shortened weekend with their fourth-straight win. The starting outfielder turned in a pair of multi-hit games and extended her reached base streak to five games.
"It was a great weekend for Alyssa (Wiebel)," head coach Melinda Fischer shared. "She's starting to get into her groove and has been continually improving from tournament-to-tournament from a batting average and RBI standpoint. Alyssa stepped up big in a tiebreaker inning for us and drove in the winning run, while playing an instrumental role in scoring against LIU and Hofstra."
Day grabbed two wins in the circle this weekend for Illinois State posting a 0.00 ERA, allowing just two hits in 10.2 innings of work, while holding her opponents to a .065 batting average. The right-handed hurler pitched a complete-game shutout against LIU to open the tournament, carrying a one-hitter to the seventh inning, while striking out 10 batters – her third double-digit strikeout performance of the season. Day returned to the circle in relief on Sunday, helping the Redbirds escape a bases-loaded jam in the fifth. The junior didn't give up a hit, run or walk to the Ospreys, while striking out six, in 3.2 innings of relief work to secure her second win of the weekend.
"Morgan (Day) had a complete and focused weekend for us in the circle," Fischer added. "She was very dominate against Long Island. We had a rain delay, and you never know how a team is going to adjust afterwards, and I thought Morgan and the rest of the team did a good job handling it. After not playing on Saturday, Morgan stepped into relief on Sunday with bases loaded and shut it down right away with the same go-get-it mentality."
ON DECK
Illinois State will trek to Bowling Green, Kentucky, to participate in the Holiday Inn Hilltopper Spring Fling, where it will face IUPUI, Austin Peay and tournament host Western Kentucky over the course of the weekend.
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