Almond Claims Pitcher of the Week

DENVER – Brigham Young’s Tori Almond has been named the Verizon Western Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Week for April 30-May 6.

Hawai‘i’s Kelly Majam was also named the Verizon Western Athletic Conference Hitter of the Week.

Almond, a sophomore from South Jordan, Utah, went 3-0 in three appearances with 20 strikeouts last week as the Cougars won a pair of non-conference games and swept Nevada to earn the No. 2 seed in this week’s WAC Tournament. She allowed just one extra-base hit, a double, in 17.1 innings pitched last week. Almond opened the week with a career-high eight innings pitched in a victory over Utah Valley, striking out nine, one shy of her career high. In the second game against the Wolf Pack, she earned a complete-game shutout, striking out eight. Later that day, she came in relief with the Cougars down vs. Nevada in the finale, throwing 4.1 innings and allowing no earned runs while striking out three. Almond is now 17-3 (.850) on the year, the best win percentage in the regular season of any BYU pitcher.
 
Majam, a junior centerfielder from Pine Valley, Calif., hit .800 with three doubles, a home run and four RBI as the Rainbow Wahine swept the series at Utah State to clinch their fourth WAC regular-season title. She had at least two hits in all three games and posted a 1.400 slugging percentage and a .769 on-base percentage for the week. In the second game of the series that clinched the WAC title, Majam tied her career game-high with four hits, as she went 4-for-4 with a pair of doubles with two runs scored and two RBI. In the series finale, Majam was 2-for-2 and tied her career-high with three runs scored to go with two RBI and a solo home run.
 
Other Hitter of the Week nominees included: Katie Manuma of Brigham Young hit .500 with four home runs and five RBI on the week ... Fresno State’s Andrea Ortega hit .556 with a pair of doubles and five RBI last week ... Melanie Goff of Louisiana Tech hit .500 with three doubles, a home run and four RBI last week ... New Mexico State’s Kelsey Dodd hit .571 with two doubles and three RBI ... Michelle Cox of San Jose State hit .625 on the week ... Utah State’s Christine Thomsen hit .364 with two doubles, a home run and one RBI on the week.
 
Other Pitcher of the Week nominees included: Mackenzie Oakes of Fresno State went 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA and four strikeouts last week ... Hawai‘i’s Kaia Parnaby went 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA and two strikeouts in one appearance ... Melanie Goff of Louisiana Tech went 2-0 with a 2.50 ERA and three strikeouts ... New Mexico State’s Alex Newman went 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA  and six strikeouts in two appearances last week ... Amanda Pridmore of San Jose State went 1-1 with a 0.50 ERA on the week.