Messina Earns Third Straight NEC Weekly Award
CCSU senior Laura Messina earned her third straight and fifth overall NEC Pitcher of the Week award this year on Monday afternoon.
Senior Laura Messina of the Central Connecticut softball team was named the Northeast Conference Pitcher of the Week, the league office announced on Monday afternoon. The honor for Messina marks the third straight week she has picked up the award and the fifth time overall during her senior season. She has now garnered the award an unprecedented 17 total times in her career as a Blue Devil.
OFFICIAL NEC RELEASE
Messina went 2-1 over three games, going the distance in all three starts and recording a 1.00 ERA this past week for Central. The senior worked 21 innings and allowed just 12 hits over that span to record a .162 batting average against. She struck out 25 batters, surpassing 200 on the season, while allowing only one walk.
The Marlton, NJ product twirled a complete game two-hitter at UConn on Wednesday, striking out nine Huskies, as the Blue Devils won a 3-1 contest over their intrastate rivals in Storrs, CT. In game one of a doubleheader at home against the defending NEC champions Bryant on Sunday, Messina followed with a 12 strike out performance in a tough 1-0 loss that snapped a CCSU 11 game winning streak. Messina then bounced back from the setback in game two by tossing her third complete game of the week in a 7-1, four-hit victory.
Messina is now 19-4 in her senior campaign with a miniscule 0.93 ERA in 165.1 innings of work in the circle. She has racked up 22 complete games, including 11 shutouts in 24 total starts and has 208 strikeouts on the year.
The Blue Devils will be back in action this Thursday on the road at UMass-Lowell for a doubleheader with the Riverhawks scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.