Messina Earns NEC Pitcher of the Week
Freshman Laura Messina earned her first NEC Pitcher of the Week Award on Tuesday afternoon.
Freshman Laura Messina was named Northeast Conference Pitcher of the Week for the first time on Tuesday afternoon. Messina and the Blue Devils both posted a 3-1 record over four games last week.
Messina earns the weekly honor after pitching 24.2 innings over four games last week. She earned the victory in both ends of a doubleheader against Fairfield on Tuesday and then posted a 1-1 record in Sunday's NEC doubleheader. Over those four games Messina posted a 0.85 earned run average and walked only three hitters.
She limited her opponents to just 13 hits over the same stretch, while striking out an astounding 35 batters to average 1.42 strikeouts per inning.
She posted a career-high 13 Ks in her complete game shutout victory over Fairfield and then recorded five more strikeouts over 2.2 innings of relief in the second game of that doubleheader.
On Sunday against Mount St. Mary's she fanned 11 in game one and then took the ball again for game two, striking out six, while allowing just two hits and two unearned runs. She finished Sunday's NEC doubleheader with a 1-1 record after she struck out 17 and walked only one hitter over two starts and 15 innings.
Messina has posted impressive numbers as a freshman. So far this season she has posted a 13-5 record over 123.1 innings pitched. Her ERA now sits at 1.76 on the year to go along with a .206 batting average against. Her 124 strikeouts give her impressive raw numbers, which work out to 7.04 strikeouts per game.
She receieved NEC Rookie of the Week honors on March 12th, after going 2-0 at the USF Under Armour Showcase.
Messina and the Blue Devils will return to action on Saturday against Quinnipiac. First pitch of game one will begin at 1 p.m.