By Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – With as outstanding of a season that Tennessee Tech third baseman Carmen Betts has had, it's only fitting that she was honored Monday by the Ohio Valley Conference as she shared the league's Player of the Week award.
As the final votes were tabulated, Betts was tied with Morehead State's Sela Pickford for the honor. The OVC Player and Pitcher of the Week awards are nominated and voted on by the conference's sports information contacts.
Betts, a native of Glen Allen, Va., has been tearing up the stat sheet all season long, but her numbers this past weekend were phenomenal. She hit .600 for the week, which included the victory at East Tennessee State and the three-game series against Lindenwood.
With all four games combined, Betts collected eight total RBI and scored six times, while also knocking out her first two home runs of the season.
Against ETSU, Betts was 1-for-3 with an RBI, two runs scored and a home run. In the opener against Lindenwood, she also went 1-for-3 with an RBI. She went 3-for-4 in the second half of Friday's doubleheader as she collected two RBI and her second home run in three games, crossing home twice. In Saturday's finale, Betts went 4-for-5 with four RBI – including a bases-clearing triple – and scored twice.
In the Lindenwood series alone, Betts batted .667 (8-for-12) with seven RBI and four runs scored, striking out once against the Lions – and OVC Pitcher of the Week Amanda Weyh, who recorded two victories over Tech and a 1.33 earned run average over three appearances this weekend.
Betts shared the honor with Pickford, who led Morehead State to two wins out of three games against Western Illinois. The Poquoson, Va., product batted .625 with five hits among eight at-bats, driving in six and scoring three times with a double and a triple. She scored the game-tying run in the second game against the Leathernecks on a suicide squeeze bunt.
For the season, Betts has a team-best 31 RBI, trailing Eastern Illinois' Kendall Grover by one for the league-lead. She ranks third in the OVC in batting with a .402 mark and is tied for fifth in hits with 37. Betts is tied for third in doubles with 11, ranks sixth in total bases with 56 and is fifth in on-base percentage with a .455 mark.
The Golden Eagles (15-14, 6-6 OVC) return to action on Wednesday as they head to Bellarmine for a non-conference contest starting at 3 p.m., then travel to Cape Girardeau for a three-game set against Southeast Missouri on Saturday and Sunday.
Tech's next home action is April 10 against Kennesaw State.
Photo | Jim Dillon, file
