Hayes Named Player of the Week by Both KCAC and NAIA
A fitting way to cap off her electric week at the plate, Avila softball's Stephanie Hayes was named the Player of the Week by both the KCAC and the NAIA, the two organizations announced this week. Hayes is the second Eagle to earn weekly honors from the KCAC this season, and she's the first Avila softball player to earn weekly recognition from the NAIA in at least a decade.
And that widespread acclaim is certainly well deserved. Avila softball scored 27 runs over four games this past week, and Hayes drove in 11 of them. She recorded a total of seven hits including two doubles and three home runs, piecing together a masterful slash line of .583/.571/1.500 (average/on-base/slugging) to help key the Eagle offense to four wins over Bethany and Westcliff.
In Avila's first conference doubleheader of the KCAC season, Hayes was probably the most critical element of an explosive Avila offense. In two games against Bethany, Hayes went a perfect 5-for-5 with a double, three home runs, seven RBI and four runs scored. She drove in exactly half of Avila's 14 runs in the sweep of the Swedes. Her homer in game one put Avila over the 8-run mark needed to eventually win the game in five innings, and her second homer in game two put the Eagles ahead for good in a 4-3 victory.
Hayes then recorded another pair of hits and was credited with four RBI as Avila started off its eight-game Spring Break trip through California with a pair of victories over Westcliff on Sunday afternoon. The sophomore from Illinois saw most of her action at DP in the four-game set, but also saw some time in the infield in game two against the Warriors, where she was credited with four infield assists in error-free defense.
Hayes joins McKayla Cotton as Avila softball's two weekly KCAC honorees this season. The NAIA keeps public records of all its weekly honorees dating back to the 2012 season, and, according to those logs, no Avila softball player in the last decade has ever been named an NAIA Player of the Week. In fact, there were only a couple of instances where an Eagle has even been a finalist for that distinction. One of the top freshmen in the NAIA last season according to the NFCA, Hayes is building on that success as she begins to heat up in the middle of her sophomore campaign.
Hayes and the rest of the Eagles will play four more games this week in her defense of this weekly recognition. Avila will first conclude its California series with two games against Menlo on Thursday before returning home to Kansas City for another conference doubleheader against York on Sunday, March 17 at The Z. Action begins at noon local time on both days. For information on how to watch and follow along, stay tuned to our social media channels and avilaathletics.com.
