Senior outfielder Holly Ridley and sophomore pitcher Rhi Kliesing received national and Big 12 conference accolades in the past week.
Ridley, a Sugar Land, Texas native, was named the Louisville Slugger/NFCA Division I Player of the Week and the Big 12 Conference Player of the Week Tuesday. She received the awards after recording a .625 batting average, two home runs and five doubles as the Aggies posted four wins in a five-game weekend in College Station.
A&M Head Coach Jo Evans said that Ridley is putting together all the parts of her softball talent.
“She’s playing with more confidence now than I’ve ever seen her play with,” Evans said. “Her nickname last year that the team gave her was ‘difference-maker,’ and she’s definitely carried that over into this season.”
Kliesing, now 9-4 in 2009 with an ERA of 1.67 and 89 strikeouts in 13 starts, was named the Big 12 Conference Pitcher of the.
Kliesing led the Aggies on the mound in two wins over No. 10 Arizona in the Texas A&M Invitational, going into extra innings in both games.
A&M will play Houston for the second time this season at the Cougar Softball Stadium.
Houston, 9-8 this season, is coming off a 3-2 win against No. 6 Michigan in the National Fastpitch Coaching Association Leadoff Classic.
Ridley said the team has to keep confident to continue its winning ways against the Cougars.
“We just have to do what we did this weekend,” Ridley said. “We played them already once this year, if we keep the same mentality we’ve had the last two weekends, it should pay off.”
Two seniors have led the Cougars at the plate in 2009. Catcher Elaina Nordstrom leads in walks and batting average, with 16 and .438 respectively, while leadoff infielder Jessica Valis leads in at-bats with 61 and hits with 18.
“Nordstrom is clearly the biggest threat on their team, alongside Jessica Valis who’s really a great player,” Evans said. “We’ll have to be able to shut down those two hitters in particular tomorrow.”