SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Chattanooga’s Emily Coltharp and UNCG’s Stephanie Bryden have been named the Southern Conference softball player and pitcher of the week, respectively, for games played March 11-17, the conference office announced Monday. It is the first weekly award for Coltharp and the second for Bryden, who was honored in week three.
Coltharp went 9-for-18 (.500) at the plate with nine hits, eight runs scored and four RBIs as Chattanooga went 4-2 on the week with wins over Eastern Illinois, Wichita State, LIU Brooklyn and Buffalo as part of the USF Under Armour Invitational in Clearwater, Florida. The freshman had at least one hit in each of the six contests, drew five walks and went 2-for-2 on stolen base attempts on the week. Against Eastern Illinois on March 14, Coltharp was 2-for-2 with two RBIs and one run scored. The next day, she added another hit and run scored and tacked on a stolen base as the Mocs beat Wichita State 3-2. She was 3-for-4 with two runs scored in an 8-1 win over LIU Brooklyn on March 15 and added two hits, one walk and one stolen base the next day in games against Seton Hall and North Dakota State. In Sunday’s tournament finale, an 11-6 win over Buffalo, Coltharp was 1-for-3 at the dish with a double, her first career extra-base hit, and two RBIs. She is in the top 10 in the conference in on-base percentage (.438), runs scored (20), walks (15), stolen bases (six) and assists (43).
Bryden, a senior, allowed just one earned run in 17 1/3 innings pitched. She totaled three wins in three appearances, struck out 21 batters and finished with a 0.40 ERA and a 0.702 WHIP. Against North Carolina A&T on March 13, Bryden threw 3.1 innings of relief as the Spartans fought back for an 8-6 win. The native of Orlando, Florida, threw a complete-game one-hit shutout in a 2-0 win over Elon on March 16, striking out 11 batters and allowing just one walk. She followed that performance with another complete game, tacking on eight more strikeouts in a 4-1 win over the Phoenix the next day. Bryden became just the eighth Spartan to surpass 400 career strikeouts and currently sits in seventh place in school history with 407. She leads the conference in strikeouts (100) and wins (11) and is second in opposing batting average (.216), appearances (18) and innings pitched (88).
Chattanooga (21-7) begins conference play at Furman (7-16) on March 23, while UNCG hosts Samford (9-22) on March 23 to open conference action.
Others nominated for player of the week: Danielle Castleberry (Mercer), Marisa Sholtes (UNCG) and Lindsay Perillo (Western Carolina).
Others nominated for pitcher of the week: Kelly Schmidt (ETSU), Bailey Pattison (Mercer), Mariah Ramirez (Chattanooga) and Kinsey Liscio (Western Carolina).
2019 SoCon Softball Players of the Week
Feb. 11 – Aly Walker, OF/DP, Jr., Chattanooga
Feb. 18 – Amanda Beltran, C., Sr., Chattanooga
Feb. 25 – Nikki Grupp, 3B, Jr., ETSU
March 4 – Marissa Guimbarda, DP/1B, So., Furman
March 11 – Emma Sturdivant, 1B, Sr., Chattanooga
March 18 – Emily Coltharp, SS, Fr., Chattanooga
2019 SoCon Softball Pitchers of the Week
Feb. 11 – Celie Hudson, Jr., Chattanooga
Feb. 18 – Kelly Schmidt, Jr., ETSU
Feb. 25 – Stephanie Bryden, Sr., UNCG
March 4 – Emily DeMonte, Sr., Furman
March 11 – Mariah Ramirez, Fr., Chattanooga
March 18 – Stephanie Bryden, Sr., UNCG
-www.SoConSports.com