Fayetteville, N.C. – Piedmont College led the pack in the USA South weekly awards with five student-athletes honored by the conference. A pair of Piedmont teams took home two awards this week, women’s lacrosse and softball, while baseball also picked up an award as well.
For the women’s lacrosse team, Maggie McDaniel earned Defensive Player of the Week while freshman Ashley Brunner picked up Rookie of the Week. The Lady Lion softball team also saw a pair of awards as Sarah Walker took home Pitcher of the Week and Jessica Bagwell earned Rookie of the Week, while Seth George of the baseball team won Rookie Pitcher of the Week.
Piedmont took three of the seven Rookie of the Week awards and five of the overall 15 awards given out over the week.
Junior Maggie McDaniel of the Lady Lion lacrosse team took Defensive Player of the Week after snagging 11 ground balls, six draw controls and three caused turnovers in a 2-0 week for Piedmont. She also scored four goals and had eight assists over the week as she currently leads the team in assists with 24.
McDaniel & the Lady Lions took down Meredith in a rematch from last season’s tournament title game 13-11 on Saturday, as well as earning a 22-3 win over Oglethorpe earlier in the week. Against Meredith, McDaniel went 4, 3, 2, 1 with four ground balls, three assists, two goals and a draw control.
Also nominated for Lacrosse Defensive Player of the Week were Graceanne Gershner of Ferrum and Alyssa Codispoti of Meredith.
Freshman Ashley Brunner has been a solid contributor throughout the season as she has started all but one contest for PC and earned her first weekly award of her career taking Lacrosse Rookie of the Week. Brunner had seven goals, seven draw controls, six ground balls and three caused turnovers in the Lady Lions’ 2-0 week.
Against Oglethorpe, the rookie notched five goals with one assist, three ground balls and draw controls as well as two caused turnovers. In Saturday’s instant classic against USA South foe Meredith, Brunner added another pair of goals along with four draw controls and three ground balls.
Also nominated for Lacrosse Rookie of the Week were Carlee Joseph of Meredith, Emily Brennen of Methodist, Catie Vance of Ferrum, and Carolyn Smith of Huntingdon.
This is the first time either player has been honored this season but these two awards mark the sixth and seventh that the women’s lacrosse team have earned this season in the USA South weekly awards
Sarah Walker pitched lights out for the Lady Lion softball team over the week going 2-0 in four appearances with a 0.00 ERA earning Softball Pitcher of the Week. Walker allowed just two unearned runs over 19.2 innings pitched against USA South foe LaGrange and Salem while giving up 16 hits, three walks and fanning 10 batters.
The sophomore from Lawrenceville, Georgia earned her first victory of the week going the distance against LaGrange allowing two unearned runs on 10 hits, walking no batters and striking out three. Her second win came against Salem as she tossed a complete-game shutout allowing four hits, one walk and six strikeouts.
She also pitched 5.2 innings in relief over the week in two appearances and did not allow a run. Also nominated for Softball Pitcher of the Week were Olivia Wolfe of LaGrange, Emily Hester of Methodist, Jessica Griffin of Averett, Lexie Randolph of Maryville, and Katy Messick of Huntingdon.
Joining Walker from the Lady Lion softball team was freshman Jessica Bagwell whose bat was on fire over the week leading her to her first weekly conference award, Softball Rookie of the Week.
The rookie from Cumming, Georgia went a combined 8-for-14 (.571) with four RBI, three runs scored and four doubles in a 3-1 week for the Lady Lions. In a split against USA South opponent LaGrange, she went 4-for-8 with three RBI, two runs scored and a pair of doubles, while in a doubleheader sweep of Salem, she was 4-for-6 with a run scored, an RBI and another pair of doubles.
Bagwell is currently second on the team in batting average hitting an impressive .483 through eleven games played so far. Also nominated for Softball Rookie of the Week were Emily Barrs of LaGrange, Olivia Cooper of Averett, Peyton Hyler of N.C. Wesleyan, and Lindsey Selph of Huntingdon.
Representing the baseball team on the weekly awards list was freshman Seth George taking home his first award with Baseball Rookie Pitcher of the Week. George tossed the first six and a third innings against DePauw in a 9-1 victory for the Lions.
In those six and a third innings, George did not allow a run on five hits, a single walk and five strikeouts. He is now tied for second on the team in strikeouts with fellow starter Max Oberkofler and behind only Chris Goershel.
The win marked George’s second of the season as he is now 2-2 on the year. Also nominated for Baseball Rookie Pitcher of the Week was Madison Cook of Methodist.
McDaniel, Brunner and the Lady Lion lacrosse team will be back in action on the road Wednesday as they travel to face LaGrange. That conference contest is slated to begin at 5:30 p.m.
The Lady Lion softball team is returning to the field Saturday taking on Meredith College at the Walker Athletic Complex for a doubleheader beginning at 2 p.m.
The next home action on campus will be the baseball team taking on Hendrix College in a rescheduled contest from Sunday. That game will be Tuesday night at 7 p.m. at Loudermilk Field. As always, all home action will be available through the Mane Event Broadcasting Network.
