Lenoir-Rhyne’s Kat Rivers, Newberry’s Amanda Huckestein Named Softball Players Of The Week

ROCK HILL, S.C. -- Lenoir-Rhyne shortstop Kat Rivers (Royston, Ga.) and Newberry pitcher Amanda Huckestein (Port Charlotte, Fla.) have been named the South Atlantic Conference Player and Pitcher of the Week, league officials announced today.

Lenoir-Rhyne sophomore Kat Rivers led the Bears to a 5-1 week and a second-place tie in the 2009 South Atlantic Conference Regular Season standings. The shortstop batted .591 (13-for-22) with three doubles, a triple and a home run on the week. She tallied multi-hit games in all five of the Bears' wins.

Down a run to Mars Hill in game two Friday, Rivers blasted a solo home run in the top of the sixth inning to tie the contest and give the Bears the jolt that would see them sweep the Lions. Rivers is batting .408 on the season and is in the top three in many of the Bears' offensive statistics. She leads the team in RBI (33) and triples (three) and is second in hits (51) slugging percentage (.632).

Kat Rivers

Amanda Huckestein

Newberry's Amanda Huckestein allowed only one unearned run in 19.1 inning of work, posting a 3-0 record for the week. The junior struck out 10 in a 2-1 win over SAC-champion Wingate on Wednesday. On Saturday, she carried a no-hitter through five innings, while striking out four, in a 7-0 win over Tusculum. She would add a five-inning shutout of Lincoln Memorial on Sunday, striking out five in an 8-0 Newberry win.

For the year, Huckestein has an 18-4 record with a 1.11 ERA, striking out 161 batters in 157 innings. Her ERA currently stands as the Newberry College single-season record.

The SAC Players of the Week are determined by a vote of the league's sports information directors.