RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – East’s Central’s Shelby Simmons and Southeastern Oklahoma State’s Jacee Bennett earned the Great American Conference’s Softball Player and Pitcher of the Week honors for the seventh week of play, the conference office announced on Tuesday.
 
GAC SOFTBALL PLAYER OF THE WEEK – Shelby Simmons, East Central, INF, Sr., North Richland Hills, Texas
Simmons spearheaded a 6-0 week for the Lady Tigers by hitting .591 against Oklahoma Baptist and Ouachita Baptist. She recorded three 3-hit games during the course of the week. Simmons scored five times and she drove in four runs. For the week, the Tigers hit .361.
  
GAC SOFTBALL PITCHER OF THE WEEK – Jacee Bennett, Southeastern Oklahoma State, RHP, So., Colbert, Okla.
Bennett earned her third GAC Pitcher of the Week award after she earned three wins and a save in the Savage Storm’s critical four-game sweep at preseason favorite Arkansas-Monticello. She struck out 14 in 17.0 innings of work and she allowed only four earned runs. She closed out the series by throwing her fourth complete game of the season in improving to 14-3 with six saves.
 
NOTABLE NOMINEES
- Kelci Garza, 2B, Jr., Southern Arkansas (Hit a pair of home runs including a grand slam against Henderson State)
- Courtney Moore, C, Sr., Southeastern Oklahoma State (Went 4-for-11 against UAM and no runner attempted to steal on her)
- Maggie Sands, DP, Sr., Arkansas-Monticello (Went 10-for-22 in six games to increase her on-base streak to 32 straight games)
 
NOTABLE PITCHING NOMINEES
- Hanna Gil, RHP, So., Southern Arkansas (Threw two complete games and her second shutout of the season in series vs HSU)
- Lacey Paulk, RHP, Fr., East Central (Registered a 19:1 strikeout-walk ratio over three games; threw three complete games)