April 1, 2003
After continued success on the diamond, three Rattlers were named Players of the Week by the Heartland Conference on March 31. Baseball honors went to St. Mary’s Steve Driffill who was named the hitter of the week and softball honors went to Pam Salinas, hitter of the week, and Amanda Bayless, pitcher of the week. This is the second time this season Bayless has been named the Heartland top pitcher.
Driffill had two home runs over the course of St. Mary’s five victories last week. The Rattlers as a team cleared the fence 11 times during those five games. Over on the softball diamond, Salinas had six hits, including a double and a homerun, in 11 at-bats during St. Mary’s four victories. She scored five runs while driving in three RBIs. Bayless pitched two complete game victories last week, giving up six hits and only one run while striking out 16 of 47 batters.
The Rattlers have been well represented in the conference’s weekly honors so far this season, with St. Mary’s baseball players earning four of ten spots over the past five weeks and St. Mary’s softball players earning six of ten spots. Receiving baseball honors earlier this season were Week Two hitter of the week Ryan Hill, Week Three pitcher of the week Carlos Guevara and Week Four pitcher Brandon Roznovsky. Softball honors have gone to Week Two hitter Kym Kling, Week Two pitcher Amanda Bayless, Week Four hitter Kristen Simmons and Week Four pitcher Kym Kling.
The Rattler baseball team (28-6) moved up to tenth in this week’s D-II National Poll while the St. Mary’s softball team (33-7) stayed at eighth in the national poll released last week.