NEW HAVEN, Conn. - - Following her first collegiate complete game shutout, Wilmington University softball freshman pitcher Chelsea Botsch picked up another first in her college career as she was named the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference's Pitcher of the Week , announced by the conference office on Monday.
Botsch went 2-1 in the circle last week, defeating Chestnut Hill and Georgian Court while also throwing a complete game at the CACC's second best team Caldwell. She struck out 18 batters while only allowing two walks, five runs and 15 hits. Botsch finished with a 1.75 earned run average in 20 innings of work.
The Smyrna, Del. native started the week with a tough 3-1 loss at Caldwell, but picked up five strikeouts and didn't issue a walk against the fifth ranked team in the latest NCAA Division II East Region rankings.
The freshman bounced back one-day later and threw her first collegiate complete game shutout against Chestnut Hill, striking out eight batters and not issuing a walk. Botsch pitched to two batters more than the minimum 21 batters in a seven inning game, allowing a third inning two-out single and a fourth inning one-out single. No other Griffin reached base in the game-one win.
Two-days later, Botsch came out and shut down the Georgian Court, the team that finished one game ahead of Wilmington in the CACC regular season standings. She struck out five more batters, tossing another complete game. The Lions scored single runs in the fourth and sixth innings, but could only manage six hits against the righty. Wilmington won 5-2 in the first game as both teams were tied in third heading into the much anticipated matchup.
The two wins evened the freshman's record at 7-7 on the year. The impressive week helped put her back in fifth place in the CACC stat rankings with a 2.12 earned run average. The six strikeouts per game ratio helped move her into fifth in the CACC by averaging 5.59 strikeouts on the season. She is also seventh in strikeouts per game in CACC games only, picking up 5.34 whiffs per game.
Botsch's eight strikeouts against Chestnut Hill was one off her season's best mark, set at Goldey-Beacom on March 20 to open the CACC schedule. She struck out a career-high nine Lightning in that complete game win. It was the second time this season she has produced eight strikeouts in a game, the other coming back on March 1 against Mary in Clermont, Fla. in four innings of work.
Botsch was joined on the CACC Weekly Report by Georgian Court's Brooke Hull as she was named the CACC Player of the Wee after hitting .571 (8-for-14) and posted a 4-1 record on the mound with a 1.06 earned run average over five games. Caldwell's Briana Gaspich picked up her third CACC Rookie of the Week award by batting 13-for-28 (.464) over eight games, including two home runs, seven RBI and seven runs scored.
Dominican's Delaney Childers, the Wildcats' Brooke Berger, Felician's Kristen Tenwolde, Post's Christina Udris and Johanna Rice were also mentioned in the report as CACC Honorable Mention honorees.
Berger batted .500 (14-for-28) on the week for the Wildcats. The junior had six multi-hit games while getting a hit in seven out of the eight games last week. The Ridley Park, Pa. native had the game-winning RBI in the first game against Chestnut Hill with a single to left in the first inning. She hit her lone double of the week down the left field line in the seventh inning of game two at Chestnut Hill, as it hopped the fence for a ground-rule hit. Berger finished with a .533 on-base percentage and a .536 slugging percentage in eight games.