With three weeks left of conference play, four teams went into last week locked at first with deciding series. Both Pacific and Long Beach State conquered with a series sweep against competitors for the share of first place, finishing the week 11-4 in Big West. Each team garnered a weekly honor slot, Pacific’s Nikki Armagost was awarded Big West Player of the Week and Long Beach State’s Erin Jones-Wesley honored as Big West Pitcher of the Week.
Armagost Performs All Around
Collecting her third Big West Player of the Week honor this season, Armagost has now collected a total six career weekly recognitions. She led the Tiger’s in a homestand sweep against Cal Poly last week to secure a piece of first in conference standings, shared with Long Beach State.
The starting junior led offensively going 6-for-9 over her three games played for a .667 batting average, .778 slugging and .700 on-base percentage. Armagost scored a team-best four runs including the game-winning tying run in game one of the series, as well as the game-winning run in the series finale.
The Andover, Kan. native showed perfection in both the circle and at first on defense for the Tigers. She went 2-0 from the rubber for the Tigers while playing in game two at first base.
Others nominated: Gabby Aragon (Cal State Fullerton), Samantha Sloniker (Cal State Northridge), Karli Sandoval (Long Beach State), Kelly Schulze (UC Davis)
Wesley Wins Back-to-Back
Wesley collected her fourth recognition for Big West Pitcher in the 2012 season, while nabbing her tenth career honor in just two years of play for the 49ers. The starting sophomore collected two of the three wins for Long Beach last week in a series sweep against UC Riverside.
Showing dominance in the circle, the Alta Loma, Calif. native threw back-to-back two hitters in her pair of wins over the Highlanders. She ran her consecutive innings scoreless streak to 19.1, continuing to not give up an earned run in the last 29 innings she has appeared.
The 2011 Big West Freshman of the Year and Pitcher of the Year pitched two complete games, for a total seven innings, allowing only four hits, three walks while accomplishing 15 strikeouts.
Others nominated: Desiree Ybarra (Cal State Fullerton), Mia Pagano (Cal State Norhridge), Justine Vela (UC Davis), Nikki Armagost (Pacific)