May 17, 2011

LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) - UNLV's Paige Emerson was named this week's Mountain West Conference Softball Player of the Week after she helped the Rebels to a perfect 3-0 for games played May 9-15. It is the second time that Emerson has been honored by the league during her career.

Emerson racked up three multiple-hit games with a total of seven hits in 12 at-bats for a .583 batting average and extended her end-of-season hitting streak to eight games, as she helped the team to three victories. She also added four runs and two RBI. She began her week with a 3-for-4 performance in a 2-1 victory over New Mexico. She was instrumental in both of UNLV's runs in the game, as she led off the bottom of the first with a single and came around to score three batters later. In the second, she had a single that advanced the would-be winning run to third before an error allowed the runner to score. She went 2-for-4 in both games against Colorado State. In Friday's 10-8 win, she scored twice and had an RBI, as well. After a single in her first at-bat, she loaded the bases up in the second on a fielder's choice and came around to score to give UNLV a 3-0 lead. In the sixth, she assisted in UNLV's rally from three runs down when she knocked in the team's first RBI with a single and then came around for the eventual go-ahead run on a sacrifice fly. In the regular season finale on Saturday, her second single of the game pushed the go-ahead run into scoring position and then she scored on a Tayler Aleman-grand slam that gave her squad an 11-7 lead and the win.

Emerson became the second straight and fourth Rebel overall to be named to the weekly award this season. Ashli Holland was tabbed last week (May 10), while Tayler Van Acker (March 8) and Pauline Monreal (March 1) were selected earlier in the 2011 campaign.