Leading UC Riverside to a 5-0 record and the program Division I record for single-season victories, Haley Harris and Chelsea Ponce are the Big West Softball Field Player and Pitcher of the Week, respectively.
Harris Leads UC Riverside At The Plate
Sophomore Haley Harris (Red Bluff, Calif./Red Bluff HS) hit .611 to pace UC Riverside to a 5-0 record at the LMU Invitational, earning Big West Softball Field Player of the Week accolades.
Harris recorded 11 hits in 18 at-bats, four of them of the extra base variety. She posted a slugging percentage of 1.000 for the week.
The second baseman hit safely in all five games and scored at least one run in four. She also drove in five runs. Harris began the tournament going 3-for-3 with a double and an RBI in a 3-0 victory over Fairleigh Dickinson. She notched another three hits, including a double and a triple, and scored twice in UCR’s 7-0 shutout of Bethune-Cookman. She also slugged a two-run home run en route to a three-RBI performance in a 5-1 victory over Seattle.
Against host Loyola Marymount, she rounded out her impressive effort at the tournament with her third, three-hit day as the Highlanders to a 10-2 win. She scored her fifth and sixth runs of the week.
In the field, Harris was as equally effective as she posted 10 putouts and 15 assists without committing an error.
Others nominated: Sierra Hyland (Cal Poly); Missy Taukeiaho (Cal State Fullerton); Savannah Horvath (CSUN); Christa Castello (UC Davis); Meshalon Moore (UC Santa Barbara); Keiki Carlos (Hawai‘i)
Ponce Tosses UC Riverside First Division I No-Hitter
UC Riverside junior Chelsea Ponce (Norwalk, Calif./Cajon HS) is the Big West Softball Pitcher of the Week after throwing the program’s first no-hitter in its Division I-era.
Ponce’s no-no also occurred as the Highlanders set a new program record for single-season wins, earning their 26th victory of the year. She allowed just one walk and struck out five against Bethune-Cookman.
She picked up the win in her three other appearances at the LMU Invitational, finishing the tournament with a 4-0 record and 0.27 ERA. She held the opponents to a collective .076 batting average.
Ponce hurled a two-hit complete game shutout with 11 strikeouts in the tourney opener against Fairleigh Dickinson. She then notched her first save of the season in the rematch with FDU as she tossed the final two-thirds of an inning in that game.
Following the no-hitter, Ponce went six innings in a 5-1 win over Seattle, surrendering just two hits and striking out five. She earned her third shutout of the tournament with a two-hitter in a five-inning, 10-2 run-rule victory over host Loyola Marymount.
Ponce owns a stellar 20-3 record with a 1.10 ERA this season. She has 116 whiffs in 140.1 innings of work.
Others nominated: Sierra Hyland (Cal Poly); Desiree Ybarra (Cal State Fullerton); Brianna Elder (CSUN); Leah Munden (UC Davis); Lena Mayer (UC Santa Barbara); Kanani Aina Cabrales (Hawai‘i)