April 16, 2012
San Antonio – The St. Mary’s softball team picked up its seventh and eighth Heartland Conference Player of the Week awards as two more Rattlers were honored, the league announced Monday.
Jared Gonzalez (Jr., San Antonio) banked her first conference award of the season as this week’s Heartland Conference Hitter of the Week, while Vianna Gutierrez (Fr., San Antonio) earned her first-ever award of her career as the Heartland Conference Pitcher of the Week.
Gonzalez had a monster week for St. Mary’s, homering five times in a three-game series against Newman. She hit a grand slam in Game One, homered three times in Game Two and homered once, denting the Jets’ scoreboard, in Game Three. For the week, she totaled 11 RBIs and seven runs scored in eight at-bats, batting .750 with a 2.625 slugging percentage.
Gonzalez leads the Rattlers in RBIs with 33 and is fourth in conference for RBIs. Her five-homer weekend brought her home-run tally to seven for the season and batting average to .324.
On the mound, Gutierrez had one of her most productive weeks as a Rattler, as the freshman went 2-0 with 10 strikeouts in a pair of wins over Newman, including one complete-game shutout.
Gutierrez is tied for fourth place in the conference in strikeouts with 74, tied with fellow Rattler ace Emily Brittain (So., San Antonio). Gutierrez is throwing at a 3.32 ERA with an 8-7 record. But her pitching arm isn’t the only thing that has been all the rage so far this season for the Rattlers.
The No. 2 pitcher is also the Rattlers’ designated hitter and leads the team in batting average with .391, ranking among the top five in the conference. Gutierrez has three homers and five doubles on the season, some of which have occurred in her 95.0 innings as a pitcher.
Gonzalez and Gutierrez’s awards brings St. Mary’s tally of Players of the Week awards to eight, more than any other team in the conference.