Nester Honored as Conference USA Pitcher of the Week for a Third Time

IRVING, Texas – Marshall softball redshirt junior Sydney Nester was chosen as the Conference USA Pitcher of the Week for the third time this season, the league office announced Monday. Nester earned two more wins and one save over three appearances during the Thundering Herd March Madness tournament.

Nester was previously honored on Feb. 14 and 28.

The Hillsville, Virginia, native pitched 15 of the Herd's 20 total innings over the weekend. Nester finished with a 1.40 ERA and 24 strikeouts. She now has 10 wins, seven shutouts and eight games with 10 or more strikeouts.

Nester began the weekend with a complete-game shutout over the Fairfield Stags on Friday, March 11. In six innings of work, she allowed just one hit, walked one and struck out six. Nester received great defensive play behind her throughout the contest as Marshall won 8-0. She ended three innings by strikeout.

The redshirt junior came on in relief to start the sixth inning against Norfolk State, after Marshall took the lead 7-6 in the bottom of the fifth. Nester pitched the final two innings, faced just six batters, and struck out three. The Spartans led off the top of the seventh with a base hit. However, Nester struck out the next batter and then induced a ground ball that turned into a 5-4-3 double play, started by fifth-year senior Madison Whitaker, to finish the inning and the game.

After getting an off day on Saturday due to a few inches of snow and temperatures in the 20s in Huntington, Nester started the final game of the weekend on Sunday facing Fairfield again. She rebounded from a rough start, allowing four runs through the first three innings, to shutting down the Stags through the final four innings.

Fairfield managed to get two runners on base in the fourth but could not get passed second. Once the Herd took the lead, 6-4, in the bottom of the fourth, Nester settled in and dominated. She struck out two of three batters in the fifth and then struck out the side in both the sixth and seventh innings. Nester struck out the final seven batters she faced and finished the game with a season-high 15. The 15 strikeouts also tied her career-high set back in 2019 against the College of Charleston while pitching for North Carolina State.

Nester's 15 Ks are tied for the third-most by a Marshall pitcher in a single game and the most by a Herd hurler since Jordan Dixon tallied 15 on April 22, 2015, against Northern Kentucky.

Nester has tallied 136 strikeouts in just 81.2 innings pitched to begin her Marshall career. She has won her last six starts, good for the fifth-longest streak in team history since 2000. Her eight games with 10 or more strikeouts already puts her in fourth place in team history for career double-digit strikeout performances.

Marshall returns to action on Wednesday, March 16, with a single game on the road against the Ohio Bobcats. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. from Athens, Ohio.

For all of the latest information on the Marshall Softball team, follow the Herd on Twitter @HerdSB, Facebook at Marshall University Softball and on www.herdzone.com.

---HerdZone.com---

Marshall University Athletics

Nester Honored as Conference USA Pitcher of the Week for a Third Time

Related News

Players Mentioned

Sydney Nester

Madison Whitaker

Related Videos