Parker Named Big 12's Softball Pitcher of the Week Sixth Time
Freshman Paige Parker earned her sixth Big 12 Pitcher of the Week this season as Oklahoma went 3-1 to capture a share of its fourth straight Big 12 title last week.
Parker struck out 25 in 21.1 innings and gave up just six hits for an opponents’ average of .087.
With her sixth honor of the season, Parker becomes just the fifth player, and second Sooner, in Big 12 history to be named Big 12 Pitcher of the Week at least six times in one season. Former Sooner Keilani Ricketts won the award six times in 2012.
Among freshmen, only Texas' Cat Osterman had more when she won seven in 2002. Osterman also holds the single-season record of nine awards in 2006.
At Oklahoma State, Parker struck out eight and gave up just one run and one hit in 5.0 innings. After three hitless innings, Oklahoma State got its first hit and only run when Tiffany Mikkelson hit a leadoff homer to left center. That would be all that Parker would allow, however, as she retired the next six batters she faced.
In the team’s lone loss of the week, Kansas only mustered three hits off Parker, but two of those hits were two-run homers as OU’s three-game winning streak in the series was snapped. She threw 4.2 hitless innings to start the game and finished with a career-high 7.1 innings pitched in the circle.
Parker bounced back in game two of the series as she threw a combined shutout. She held the Jayhawks hitless in her 3.0 innings of work, struck out six and walked just one. After giving up a leadoff walk, Parker retired the next nine batters she faced, including four straight strikeouts.
In the finale, Parker improved to 23-5 on the season as she struck out four and allowed just one unearned run and two hits in six innings. After throwing the first 5.0 innings, she came back in to pitch in the seventh and preserved the win as she allowed just one inherited runner to score after re-entering to face a bases-loaded, no-out situation with OU up by four in the seventh.
