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In just over a month, the College Baseball and College Softball World Series will be kicking off. The Pac-12 will have a number of quality teams representing their conference in the tournament and the weekly honors give us a strong idea of who will be the players to watch when the postseason begins.
On Monday, May 7, the Pac-12 Conference officially announced their Players of the Week for the week of May 7 in baseball and softball. The honors went to players from Arizona, Stanford, UCLA, and Washington.
Which players brought home the honors from your favorite school?
The Pac-12 Players of the Week can be seen below.
Pac-12 Baseball Players of the Week
Congratulations to this week's #Pac12BSB Players of the Week: @StanfordBSB's Will Matthiessen tabbed Player of the Week and @ArizonaBaseball's Cody Deason named Pitcher of the Week! More: https://t.co/n9qW0OBRNr pic.twitter.com/1ynQfVZHme
— Pac-12 Conference (@pac12) May 7, 2018
Pac-12 Baseball Player of the Week: Will Matthiessen, So., INF/RHP, Stanford (West Linn, Ore.)
• Matthiessen hit four home runs to help Stanford to a 4-0 mark last week, which featured a three-game sweep at Utah (12-1, 25-5, 6-4) and a 5-2 victory over local rival San Francisco.
• Over the four games he went 9-of-14 at the plate and recorded eight runs, nine hits, nine RBIs and a double. He batted .643 with a .688 on base percentage and 1.571 slugging percentage.
• Collected his first career homer in the non-conference matchup against USF on Tuesday to start the week, followed by one on Friday and a pair on Sunday against Utah.
• Earns first Pac-12 Player of the Week honor this season and Stanford’s 137th all-time weekly nod.
Pac-12 Baseball Pitcher of the Week: Cody Deason, Jr., RHP, Arizona (Ojai, Calif.)
• Deason threw a five-hit shutout to knock off No. 7 UCLA, 2-0, in the series opener on Friday and set the tone to lead Arizona to its first home sweep against the Bruins (3-1, 6-3) since 1991.
• Set new career highs with nine innings pitched and 11 strikeouts en route to the Wildcats’ first complete game shutout since JC Cloney accomplished the feat in the 2016 College World Series.
• Surrendered just one walk for Arizona’s first complete game of the season and lowered his season ERA to 2.36.
Collects first career Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week award, Arizona’s 55th pitching honor in program history and the first for a Wildcat since 2016 (May 2, Kevin Ginkel).
Honorable Mentions
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Alfonso Rivas, ARIZ; Tanner Dodson, CAL; Adley Rutschman, OSU; Stephen Dubb, USC; Joe Wainhouse, WASH
PITCHER OF THE WEEK: Aaron Shortridge, CAL; Kevin Abel, OSU; Tristan Beck, STAN; Connor Lunn, USC; Jordan Jones, WASH
Softball Players of the Week
Congratulations to this week’s #Pac12SB Players of the Week! @UWSoftball‘s Julia DePonte and Gabbie Plain receive Player of the Week and Freshman of the Week, respectively. @UCLASoftball‘s Rachel Garcia is the Pitcher of the Week! https://t.co/S0qv8V2goF pic.twitter.com/REHGBk7xXU
— Pac-12 Conference (@pac12) May 7, 2018
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Julia DePonte, SR, UTL, Washington (Vacaville, Calif.)
3 GP, 4 runs, 5 hits, 3 RBI, .556 avg, 1.333 SLG%
• Second-career multi-homer game in a win against Oregon State on May 4 (6-1) and first since Feb. 12, 2016 against Texas Tech.
• Also had second-career three-run game in the win and first since Feb. 13, 2016 against South Dakota.
• Leads the Conference with six home runs in Pac-12 play.
• Also assisted in the 2-0 and 5-3 wins against Oregon State.
• Second-career and season weekly honor for DePonte and 105th all-time honor for Washington.
PITCHER OF THE WEEK: Rachel Garcia, SO, P, UCLA (Palmdale, Calif.)
4 GP, 3 wins, 14.0 IP, 22 K, 0.00 ERA
• Earned three of the Bruins’ four wins last week (Cal State Fullerton 5-3, then-No. 24 California 2-1 and 10-5), striking out 22 in 14 innings, allowing no earned runs, no walks and only nine hits.
• Eight of her 11 outs on Tuesday at Cal State Fullerton were strikeouts, tossing 3 2/3 frames of scoreless relief.
• Struck out 12 for a complete-game in the 2-1 win against Cala on Saturday.
• Also went 6-for-14 (.429) with four RBI at the plate.
• Seventh-career weekly honor for Garcia and 152nd all-time weekly honor for UCLA.
FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK: Gabbie Plain, FR, P, Washington (Harrington Park, Australia)
3 GP, 3 wins, 17.0 IP, 19 K, 0.41 ERA
• Earned all three wins in the Huskies’ sweep of Oregon State (6-1, 2-0, 5-3).
• Recorded her third double-digit strikeout game on Friday in the 6-1 win.
• Became the ninth Husky freshman ever to record more than 15 wins, also recording her seventh shutout, third-most ever by a Husky freshman.
• Third freshman of the week honor for Plain.
Honorable Mentions
Player of the Week: Jessie Harper, ARIZ; Taylor Becerra, ASU; Gwen Svekis, ORE; Whitney Burks, STAN; Madeline Jelenicki, UCLA.
Pitcher of the Week: Taylor McQuillin, ARIZ; Breanna Macha, ASU; Megan Kleist, ORE; Gabbie Plain, WASH.
Freshman of the Week: DeNae Chatman, ASU; Aaliyah Jordan, CAL.