Florida Junior Michelle Moultrie Awarded USA Softball's College Player of the Week
Tuesday, March 1, 2011 | Softball
UF softball's Michelle Moultrie (Jacksonville, Fla.) picked up USA Softball College Player of the Week honors Tuesday by the Amateur Softball Association (ASA) of America for her contributions to UF's outstanding weekend at the competitive Cathedral City Classic. The Gators went 5-0 in Palm Springs to improve to 14-0 on the season and 5-0 against Top-25 competition. Florida checked in at No. 2 this week in the NFCA/Louisville Slugger Top 25 Poll, while claiming the No. 3 spot in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Top 25 earlier Tuesday.
"I'm very thankful for USA Softball's recognition of Michelle and her performance last week at the Cathedral City Classic," Florida head coach Tim Walton said. "Sometimes Michelle flies under the radar, but last week, she was a huge difference-maker offensively and defensively in all five of our games. Michelle is not only our lead-off batter and centerfielder, but she is one of the most exciting players to watch."
Moultrie finished the weekend 10-for-17 (.588) with five runs, nine RBI, a double, three triples and one stolen base to help elevate the Gators' play. The junior centerfielder had the game-winning or game-tying RBI in three of UF's games at the Cathedral City Classic, including victories over then-No. 2/2 UCLA (double to left field, 2 RBI), then-No. 11/12 Texas (RBI single) and Utah (RBI triple down the right-field line) and also scored the game-tying run against San Diego State after reaching on a single in her at-bat. Moultrie smacked three triples on the weekend, including a career-high two against Utah, when she went 3-for-3 with three RBI, ranking first for UF in the category this season after only having three career triples prior to the weekend.
"It's a big honor for me to be named National Player of the Week. I just want to thank God for blessing me and our team,” said Moultrie. “It was really fun for us to be out in California playing good softball against good competition."
The Mandarin High School product is riding a career-long 12-game hit streak and has had at least one hit in 13 of UF's 14 games this season, ranking first in batting clip (.556), on-base percentage (.615) and slugging percentage (.844) for the Orange and Blue. Moultrie additionally has a team-high 25 hits this season and has tallied a team-best six of seven stolen bases.
Moultrie and the Gators will be back in action this weekend as they host the 2011 Lipton Invitational, March 4-6. UF will welcome Valparaiso, Syracuse, North Dakota State, Pacific and Gardner-Webb for the three-day tournament at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium.
