TU's Watson Named NFCA Co-Pitcher Of The Week

Tulsa softball's Emily Watson has been named the Louisville Slugger/National Fastpitch Coaches Association Co-Pitcher of the Week as announced by the NFCA on Tuesday afternoon. The honor marks the first of the kind of a Tulsa pitcher and first NFCA honor since Jackie Lawrence won Player of the Week on April 11, 2007.
 
Watson (Edmond, Okla./Deer Creek) went 4-0 in the circle for the Hurricane last week with shutout wins over ranked opponents in No. 25 Arkansas and No. 12 LSU. The junior put together 24 innings of scoreless pitching during the week as she extended her streak to 38 straight innings of holding her opponents scoreless. Watson tossed three shutouts total last week while throwing 4.1 innings of perfect softball against Arkansas in a five-inning win on Wednesday.
 
The right-hander has a 14-3 mark this season with a 1.24 earned run average to go along with 157 strikeouts and five shutouts, ranking atop The American Athletic Conference in all four categories. Watson also ranked fourth nationally in strikeouts, sixth in wins, and eighth in shutouts.
 
"I'm honored to win this award and excited to see that all my hard work has been paying off," said Watson. "I couldn't do it without my team behind me, their defense has been making me feel confident to pound the zone. I'm just excited to get into conference play this weekend and we're just looking at the ultimate award of winning conference and getting that postseason bid."
 
The Hurricane (20-10 Overall) head into conference play as winners of sixth straight and nine out of their last 10 and will begin The American play at USF on Friday at 3 p.m. in Tampa, Fla.