Sophomore center fielder Kat Lane and freshman left fielder Gabbie Kowalik of the Saint Louis softball team are the Atlantic 10 Conference co-Player of the Week and Rookie of the Week, respectively, for April 29-May 5, the league office announced Monday.
Lane’s award is her first career A-10 weekly honor, while Kowalik earned Rookie of the Week plaudits for a third time. They helped SLU post a 3-1 record that included a three-game sweep of Atlantic 10 Conference rival St. Bonaventure.
Lane hit safely in all four contests, batting .563 (9-for-16). She was 8-for-12 (.667) in the St. Bonaventure series, collecting at least two hits in each game as well as an RBI in each contest.
Lane had a key hit in the seventh inning of game two vs. the Bonnies as Saint Louis tied the score, and she drove in a run in a four-run eighth inning as the Billikens won 6-2. She tripled in SLU’s first run in a 5-2 win in the series finale.
Last week’s performance boosted Lane’s season batting average to .364, second on the team and seventh in the A-10. She also ranks among the league’s top 10 in triples (three, tied for sixth) and hits (55, tied for ninth), and she is tied for the team lead with 32 runs.
Kowalik turned in a .417 batting average (5-for-12), added two walks and a hit-by-pitch for a .533 on-base percentage, and registered a .917 slugging percentage last week. She was 5-for-10 with six RBI, a home run, a triple and a double vs. St. Bonaventure.
In the series opener, Kowalik tripled in a run in the fourth inning and sealed a 9-0 win with a grand slam in the fifth. In game two, she delivered a game-tying RBI single with two outs in the seventh to set the stage for SLU’s 6-2, eight-inning victory.
Kowalik ranks second in home runs (six), RBI (34) and slugging percentage (.530) and is third in batting average (.331) on the Billiken charts.
Saint Louis is the No. 6 seed for the A-10 Championship in Amherst, Massachusetts. The Billikens take on No. 3 seed George Washington in a first-round game Wednesday, May 8, at 12:30 p.m. (CDT).
