D1Softball Weekly Awards: Cottrill, Willis and Canady

Player of the Week: Julia Cottrill, Texas A&M

The junior catcher hit four home runs and had 10 RBIs to lead the Aggies to a series win over Missouri. Facing a Tigers squad with her father on the coaching staff, Cottrill had prolific bookend performances. In the series opener, Cottrill hit a pair of two-run home runs. In the series finale, she hit a pair of three-run home runs to secure the series win for A&M.

Pitcher of the Week: Sarah Willis, UCF

Willis threw the first seven-inning perfect game in UCF history in a 7-0 win over Houston in the series-opener. The junior righthander followed with her second complete-game shutout in two days, holding the Cougars to just two hits in seven innings in a 4-0 win to push her scoreless innings streak to 26 straight. In total, Willis threw 14 spotless innings, allowing only two hits limiting Houston to an .047 batting average-against. Entering the regular season’s final weekend, Willis now boasts a 0.67 ERA (52 IP, 5 ER) through her first 10 appearances (nine starts) in AAC play.

Freshman of the Week: NiJaree Canady, Stanford

Canady went 4-0 in four appearances, including two starts, allowing eight hits and just one earned run. She finished with 29 strikeouts against just two walks to help Stanford in the program’s first best-of-three series at Arizona State. Canady remains undefeated at 13-0 with a 0.34 ERA, 146 strikeouts and just 16 walks in 83.1 innings pitched.