Three home runs helped Long Beach State junior Darian Tautalafua earn Big West Softball Field Player of the Week honors, while a no-hitter spurred CSUN freshman Zoe Conley to Big West Softball Pitcher of the Week recognition.
Long Ball Leads Tautalafua To Weekly Honors
Long Beach State junior Darian Tautalafua (Carson, Calif./Carson HS) clubbed three home runs, slugged 1.063, and helped her team to an upset of No. 12 UCLA in garnering Big West Softball Field Player of the Week accolades.
Tautalafua hit .438 (7-for-16) in five games at the Louisville Slugger Invitational to help the 49ers post a 3-2 record. She slugged homers in wins over Seattle and Southern Utah, and in a loss to Stanford.
The outfielder also went 2-for-2 with a double, two walks and two RBI in a 5-4 win over the second-ranked Bruins.
She scored three times against Seattle in addition to a 2-for-3 performance at the plate. Tautalafua hit safely in all five games, and drove in at least one run in four of them.
In homering three times, Tautalafua raised her career total to 29, putting her one short from tying the 49er career record.
Others nominated: Stephanie Heyward (Cal Poly); Eliza Crawford (Cal State Fullerton); Katie Hooper (CSUN); Krista Bava (UC Davis); Rebecca Faulkner (UC Riverside); Arianna Palomares (UC Santa Barbara); Kayla Wartner (Hawai‘i)
Conley No Hits Utah Valley State To Earn Second Straight Honor
CSUN freshman Zoe Conley (Berkeley, Calif./Salesian HS) notched her second straight Big West Softball Pitcher of the Week honor as she posted a 4-1 record with a 0.69 ERA during the team’s season-opening home stand.
The highlight of Conley’s week was her first career no-hitter in Wednesday’s 3-0 victory against Utah Valley State. Conley struck out a career-best 16 batters in garnering the program’s first no-hitter since 2008.
She was the winning pitcher in both of her starts during the CSUN/LMU Tournament. She tossed a two-hit shutout in the finale, an 8-0 rout of College of Charleston, and threw four innings of two-hit ball as the Matadors blanked Sacramento State by an identical score.
For the week, Conley fanned 33 hitters in 20.1 innings of work, allowing just seven hits and five walks. She held opposing hitters to a .106 batting average. CSUN improved to 17-4 on the year, its best start since the 1996 team also opened with the same record.
Others nominated: Christina Washington (Cal State Fullerton); Christina Clermont (Long Beach State); Leah Munden (UC Davis); Chelsea Ponce (UC Riverside); Kanani Aina Cabrales (Hawai‘i)