ST. LOUIS – Illinois State softball's Mack Leonard has been recognized as the Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Week, the league office announced on Tuesday.
Leonard boasted a .520 batting average, going 13-for-26 from the dish, as the Redbirds went 5-1 at the FAU Parents' Weekend Tournament this past weekend. In Illinois State's lone loss against No. 10 Kentucky, Leonard was the only Redbird to turn in a multi-hit game, while recording a pair of RBIs. Her most impressive performance at the plate was a 4-for-5 outing in a 9-5 win over Pitt, as the junior utility player scored a pair of runs and added two more RBIs to her weekend stat line.
After tossing a strikeout in the top of the seventh against FIU on Friday, Leonard lifted a two-out home run to walk it off for the Redbirds, 3-2, in the final frame while grabbing a win in the circle. Leonard finished the six-game tournament with a pair of doubles, a triple, a home run and 11 RBIs, including the game-winning RBI single on Sunday in extra innings against FAU. She also turned in an .800 slugging percentage and a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage.
ON DECK
Leonard and the Redbirds will make the trek down to Tennessee this weekend for the MTSU Invitational, March 12-14. Illinois State is set to take on Dayton, North Dakota State and Middle Tennessee in the round-robin tournament.
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