The Southern Conference today named Chattanooga’s Toni Hutchison its softball Player of the Week and Georgia Southern’s Melissa Laliberte its Pitcher of the Week for the week ending April 30. The honor is the second of the season for Laliberte, who also claimed the accolade in the fourth week of the season.

Hutchison, a freshman third baseman, batted .500 (6-for-12) in a 4-1 week for the Lady Mocs, recording a hit in all five contests.

The Madison, TN, native also garnered three RBIs on the week and had two doubles in a 6-1 opening-game victory in Chattanooga’s three-game set last weekend with Elon. In the field, Hutchison recorded eight putouts with 12 assists from third base with no errors.

Laliberte was almost perfect last week from inside the circle, finishing the week with 1-0 record and an unscathed 0.00 ERA in 13.1 innings pitched for the Eagles. A native of Couborg, Ontario, Canada, Laliberte struck out 10 batters on the week and allowed just nine hits.

The sophomore gave up just three hits and struck out six in a 2-0 complete game win over UNC Greensboro last Saturday. Laliberte concludes the week first in the conference in ERA (2.12) and opponents batting average (.205).

Others considered for the Player of the Week award included Georgia Southern’s Shanita Black (.471 batting average, including 3-for-4 performance in win over UNCG in which she was a homer shy of the cycle) and Western Carolina’s Ashley Adams (.375 batting average with a pair of home runs to increase the SoCon season home run record to 21 round-trippers).

Those who received consideration for Pitcher of the Week included Chattanooga’s Ashley Frizzell (0.86 ERA in a 2-0 week) and Western Carolina’s Jenny Jackson (2-0 week with wins over Gardner-Webb and College of Charleston).