Softball's Enea and Nelson Earn SEC Weekly Honors
Monday, March 2, 2009 | Softball
University of Florida softball players junior Francesca Enea (Woodland Hills, Calif.) and senior Stacey Nelson (Los Alamitos, Calif.) garnered Southeastern Conference Player and Pitcher of the Week honors for their outstanding performances last week.
The No. 2/2 Gators (19-2, 0-0 SEC) went 7-0 during the week of Feb. 23, collecting wins over No. 6/6 Michigan and every Cox Invitational opponent, registering a 6-0 record throughout the round-robin tournament.
Left fielder Enea went 12-for-22 last week, hitting .545 with five runs and seven RBI. She tallied a hit in all seven games to record a team-high 12 hits. She launched two home runs to bring her career total to 30, moving the junior into third place on Florida's career home run list. Enea's seven RBI also moves her into fifth on UF's all-time list with 118. She has a team-high 29 hits and 32 RBI so far this season.
Right-hander Nelson went 4-0 with two shutouts and one save last week, making five appearances. She recorded a season-high 12 strikeouts in the win over USF on Feb. 27 while not allowing a walk or a run. The senior registered a 0.00 ERA over 24.0 innings, striking out 33 and walking only two. Nelson also held opponents to a .134 batting average through the seven days.
The Player of the Week award is the second for Enea this season and in her career. She was named the SEC's best player on Feb. 16, picking up 18 RBI on 11 hits, including two grand slams. This was Nelson's fourth Pitcher of the Week honor and fifth SEC weekly honor in her career. It was the first time this season she has earned the accolade.
This is the second time in program history Florida earned both Player and Pitcher of the Week in the same week. Enea and Brombacher received the pair of awards on Feb. 16 when the Gators defeated Jacksonville on the road and swept through the Lipton Invitational at home.
Florida opens the SEC schedule on Saturday, March 7 in Columbia, S.C., as the Gators take on the Gamecocks in the three-game series starting with a 1 p.m. doubleheader on Saturday.
