Marshall University Athletics
Zerkle Named C-USA Softball Player of the Week
2/16/2015 12:00:00 AM | Softball
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - Marshall University sophomore Morgan Zerkle (Milton, W.Va.) was named the Conference USA Player of the Week Monday, the league office announced.
Zerkle had a superb weekend at the Pirate Clash hosted by East Carolina, helping the Thundering Herd go 3-1 in the invitational and 8-1 this season.
She totaled 13 hits in 17 at bats, driving home four runs and hitting an inside the park home run. She also stole eight bases on the weekend, with three coming in the final game of the Invitational against ETSU.
Zerkle's batting average for the weekend was .765, while her slugging percentage (.941) and on-base percentage (.778) were highly impressive as well.
In Marshall's 11-3 win against Bucknell, Zerkle went 5-5 with four runs, three RBI (from the inside the park home run) and had four stolen bases. She became the first Marshall player to record more than four hits in a game since Kaelynn Greene last February.
Zerkle is the 56th student-athlete to receive a hitter/pitcher of the week award during coach Shonda Stanton's tenure with the program. Stanton said she is pleased to see Zerkle's preparation lead to impressive performances.
"Great to see "Z" rewarded for all the hard work and time she invested in the off-season," Stanton said. "She really has set the standard for our program and it has been a joy to watch her develop from her freshman season to now. Her performance on the weekend shows what a special athlete she is and we look forward to watching her continual growth."
Zerkle joins sophomore pitcher Jordan Dixon (Edmond, Okla.) as Herd players to receive Conference USA honors this season. A Marshall student-athlete has been represented as a Conference USA Player of the Week in each of the first two weeks of the 2015 softball season.
Zerkle and the Herd will next compete in the USF Wilson DeMarini Tournament hosted by the University of South Florida in Tampa from Feb. 20-22.
