Softball

SB: March 23 Players of the Week

DALLAS – NM State’s Tamara Carranza, Jax State’s Makenna Moore and Liberty’s Maci Strickland earned Conference USA Softball weekly honors.
 
Carranza garners Player of the Week honors, while Moore is the Pitcher of the Week, and Strickland is the Freshman of the Week.
 
Player of the Week – Tamara Carranza, NM State – Sophomore – IF – Imperial, Calif.
Carranza was a key cog in the lineup in the Aggies’ (16-16, 6-3 CUSA) home series victory over FIU, slashing .700/.727/1.300 over the weekend with a team-high seven hits, three RBI, four runs, a double, a triple and a home run. She hit for the cycle in the series opener to power NM State to a 10-6 victory, going 4-4 with three runs and an RBI. Carranza knocked out the two hardest hits of the cycle with a solo home run and a triple in her first two at-bats. In Saturday’s series-clinching win, she went 1-2 with a run scored. Carranza wrapped up the weekend with a pair of RBI singles to try and spark an Aggie comeback in the 4-2 defeat.
 
Pitcher of the Week – Makenna Moore, Jax State – Freshman – Grain Valley, Mo.
The two-time CUSA Freshman of the Week nabs her first Pitcher of the Week title after she worked 13.2 shutout innings for the Gamecocks (23-9, 8-1 CUSA) during a weekend sweep of LA Tech. Moore tallied her second career shutout on Friday to set the tone for the series with a 3-0 victory. She punched out eight and scattered just four hits in seven frames. Moore struck out four more with just one walk and three hits allowed in 6.2 innings of work on Sunday to close out the sweep and improve to 8-1 on the year. In her last five outings, she has gone 4-0 with a 0.22 ERA, surrendering just one earned run in 31 innings.
 
Freshman of the Week – Maci Strickland, Liberty – Infielder – Dallas, Ga.
Strickland had a sensational series at UTEP, helping the Lady Flames (14-15, 7-2 CUSA) sweep the Miners while batting .500 (5-10) with one double, one homer, three RBI, three runs scored, a .538 on base percentage and .900 slugging percentage. On Thursday, she went 0-2 with two walks, a sacrifice fly and one RBI. Strickland then went 2-3 with a walk, homer, one RBI and one run scored on Friday as Liberty won 9-1 in six innings. One pitch after Paige Doerr hit a three-run homer in the fifth, Strickland made it back-to-back homers with a solo shot to make it 7-0. She then posted her third career three-hit game in an 11-3 win over UTEP on Saturday, going 3-5 with a double, one RBI and one run scored. Her RBI single in the seventh inning capped the scoring at 11-3.
 
2026 CUSA Players of the Week
F9      Devin Elam, NM State
F16     Reagan Marchant, LA Tech
F23     Savannah Jessee, Liberty
M2      Annie White, WKU
M9      Faith Aragon, NM State
M16    Brynn McManus, Liberty
M23    Tamara Carranza, NM State
 
2026 CUSA Pitchers of the Week
F9      Erica Houge, WKU
F16     Maddy Wood, WKU
F23     Allie Floyd, LA Tech
M2      Erica Houge, WKU
M9      Tiffany Sanchez, Sam Houston
M16    Allie Floyd, LA Tech
M23    Makenna Moore, Jax State
 
2026 CUSA Freshmen of the Week
F9      Bryannah Campos, LA Tech
F16     Emily Koranda, Missouri State
F23     Makenna Moore, Jax State
M2      Karli Challburg, Delaware
M9      Lucie McDonald, MTSU
M16    Makenna Moore, Jax State
M23    Maci Strickland, Liberty