May 4, 2005
LAS VEGAS - Continuing UNLV's 2005 trend of winning the Mountain West Conference's Player and Pitcher of the Week awards are Brittany Meade and Jacque Kerrigan. Meade and Kerrigan were recognized for their achievements this past weekend in the Rebels' two-game sweep at San Diego State. So far this season, UNLV has won the player of the week award nine out of the 13 weeks it has been presented. Meade's selection is the first for the freshman, while Kerrigan has won the pitcher of the week award three consecutive weeks and five times overall this year. Coincidentally, every week that Kerrigan has won the pitcher award one of her teammates has been chosen as the offensive winner, as well.
Meade batted .500, with a double and a run scored in UNLV's doubleheader sweep of the Aztecs last Saturday. In game one, she went 2-for-4 from the plate, with a double and a run scored. In the fourth inning, she doubled down the right field line and later scored on an RBI-single by Brittany Freight to put the Rebels up 1-0. Meade got things going for the Rebels in the sixth inning as she reached on a single. She was pulled for a pinch-runner, who came around to score UNLV's second run of the game. In game two, she went 1-for-2 with a single. Meade consistently came up big in the field for the Rebels in both games, making several diving stops on the way to six assists, three putouts and a perfect fielding percentage. She is currently batting .331 on the year with two home runs, 21 RBI and 26 runs scored. In MWC play, she has stepped up her production, leading the team with a .378 batting average and has three doubles, 10 RBI and nine runs scored.
Kerrigan closed out both games at SDSU last weekend. She picked up a complete game win and a save. In game one, she tossed six perfect innings of softball, facing the minimum number of batters, on the way to her 14th complete game victory of the season. She struck out six and walked none, while giving up only four hits. In relief of Shannon Crisp in the second game, she took to the circle with one out recorded in the seventh inning and runners on the base paths. She got the final two outs to ground out and to fly out to pick up her fifth save of the season in the 1-0 win. Kerrigan is currently 24-13 on the season, with five saves, an ERA of 1.64 and 170 strikeouts. With her two appearances last week, she moved into fifth-place ties for most appearances in a single-season (44) and starts (35). Kerrigan also moved into a tie for first-place on the UNLV career charts with 161 appearances and 11 saves. She sits in second-place with 84 career complete games.
Kerrigan ties SDSU's Sandra Durazo for most selections (five) as the pitcher of the week award recipient for a single-season dating back to the first season softball was played in the Mountain West Conference in 2000.
