HS & Club Softball

Four shutout games earn Lauren Mathis ASA JO Player of the Week honors

OKLAHOMA CITY — After throwing four shutout games in the ASA Memorial Day Qualifier, Florida ASA athlete Lauren Mathis (Windermere, Fla.) has earned the ASA Junior Olympic (JO) Player of the Week award, presented by Worth Fastpitch and StudentSports.com the Amateur Softball Association (ASA)/ USA Softball announced today. Mathis pitched shutouts in all four games started, two of those came back-to-back in the championship finals, to earn a berth to the ASA/USA 14U National Championship in San Diego, Calif.

In Mathis’ four starts she helped to produce four wins and had two saves. In her first appearance of the tournament against the Gold Coast Hurricanes, Mathis produced a no-hit shutout with nine strikeouts in seven innings resulting in a 1-0 win. In her next performance, Mathis held the Santa Fe Inferno scoreless with seven strikeouts in six innings for a 3-0 win. In the first game of the championship series against the undefeated Jacksonville Storm, Mathis kept the Storm off the scoreboard with 11 strikeouts in six innings to ensure a 5-0 win for her team. In the final championship game, Mathis helped her team to knock off the Storm and secure their qualification to San Diego. Mathis tossed five innings with seven strikeouts in the 8-0 victory over the Storm.

She had an impressive offensive performance as well with three doubles, three runs scored and two RBI.

“We are so very proud of Lauren, she has been our ace for a long time and I can’t say enough about her performance, as the day got longer, she got stronger,” said Coach Tim Guldin. “Her team rallied around her with great defense and solid hitting and she dominated from the circle.”

Established to recognize JO players 18 years or younger for outstanding play in an ASA/USA sanctioned event, the ASA/USA Softball JO Player of the Week will honor 14 athletes, male or female, from May 9 – August 8 following the conclusion of the ASA/USA JO National Championships. Nominations will be taken on a week-by-week basis (see below schedule) and will be submitted and accepted through http://www.studentsports.com/softball/2014/02/12/asa-player-week-form/ until noon ET every Tuesday. In order to be eligible for the award, athletes must be registered with their local ASA/USA association and must have participated in ASA/USA Softball sanctioned events or tournaments during the week nominated.

2014 ASA/USA Softball JO Player of the Week award schedule

Week 1 (April 30 – May 6): Faith Willis (Liberty, Mo.) – Originals-Shanks
Week 2 (May 7 – 13): Allie Roberts (Rogers, Minn.) – Northwest Diamonds
Week 3 (May 14 – 20): Jordyn Kadlub – Tampa Mustangs
Week 4 (May 21 – 27): Lauren Mathis (Windermere, Fla.) – Windermere Wildifre
Week 5 (May 28 – June 3): Winner announced June 6
Week 6 (June 4 – 10): Winner announced June 13
Week 7 (June 11 – 17): Winner announced June 20
Week 8 (June 18 – 24): Winner announced June 27
Week 9 (June 25 – July 1): Winner announced July 4
Week 10 (July 2 – 8): Winner announced July 11
Week 11 (July 9 – 15): Winner announced July 18
Week 12 (July 16 – 22): Winner announced July 25
Week 13 (July 23 – 29): Winner announced August 1
Week 14 (July 30 – August 5): Winner announced August 8

Honorable Mentions:

MacKinzie Castle (Marysville, Wa.) – MacKinzie’s performance at the plate helped her team to become the 2014 Sidewinder Tournament champions. She finished the tournament with a .778 batting average with one double, one triple and three home runs.

Olivia Kinsey (Parkville, Mo.) – Olivia dominated in the circle for her KC Blast squad at the 2014 KC Metro ASA Memorial Day Invitational where her team finished third out of 48 teams. She pitched 32 innings and struck out 66 players while only allowing nine earned runs. Olivia’s final record at the tournament was 5-2-1 with two shutout games.

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