4/25/2016 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Charlotte, N.C. - Coastal Carolina softball player Bri Chiusano has been named the Big South Conference Player of the Week, the league announced Monday.
This is Chiusano's first honor of the season who batted .619 (13-for-21) with two RBI and nine runs scored in a pair of series sweeps over Campbell and Gardner-Webb this past week.
Chiusano became the Big South's all-time runs scored leader this week as she recorded career run number 195 in the third inning versus Gardner-Webb to tie the mark and run number 196 in the sixth to become the league's all-time leader. The previous Big South record was 195 runs, set by Longwood's Megan Baltzell from 2013-2015.
The senior from Mansfield, Mass., had four multi-hit games last week, posting a .667 slugging percentage with four games batting over .500. She recorded at least one hit in each of the past six games while hitting 2 or more hits in five of the six games.
Chiusano was 2-for-3 hitting two singles and two runs scored in game one of the doubleheader versus Campbell. She put the Chants on the board in the top of the first after scoring on Dominik's sac fly. In the top of the third after Chiusano singled, she attempted to steal second but was tagged out for the first time this season. She leads the team in stolen bases with 25 on the season and ranks second in the Big South.
In game two of the doubleheader, Chiusano (2-for-5) smacked two singles, recording one stolen base, and a run scored. She closed out the series sweep versus Campbell going officially 1-for-3 with two runs scored in Coastals 15-2 victory.
In Garnder-Webbs doubleheader, Chiusano was 5-for-6, hitting a pair of singles that led to a total of two RBIs. Chiusano tied the Coastal Carolina all-time runs scored record as she recorded her 194th career run in the bottom of the fifth in game two which left her one shy of tying the Big South record that she later broke in Sunday's game versus Gardner-Webb. She scored twice to become the Big South career leader in the category, now with 196, that lead the Coastal Carolina softball team to a 7-0 victory over Gardner-Webb to sweep the series.
Further, she has recorded at least one hit in 30 of the last 32 contests (44 of 51 games with at least one hit), raising her season average to .394, third best on the team. For the season, she ranks third in the Big South with a .394 batting average and second with 71 hits and 49 runs scored. The senior also leads the nation among active career leads in stolen bases with 141 while ranking fourth in the nation.
The Chanticleers return to action this Tuesday closing out a three-game series versus Charleston Southern with a single game starting at 4 p.m.
