STARKVILLE, Miss. — University of Hawai‘i freshman shortstop, Jessica Iwata, has been named as the Louisville Slugger/NFCA Division I National Player of the Week for games played between April 5-11. She is the first Rainbow Wahine softball player to ever
STARKVILLE, Miss. — University of Hawai‘i freshman shortstop, Jessica Iwata, has been named as the Louisville Slugger/NFCA Division I National Player of the Week for games played between April 5-11. She is the first Rainbow Wahine softball player to ever earn the prestigious honor.
Iwata, a Lihu‘e native and Kaua‘i High School graduate, went 12 for 20 on the week with nine runs, 17 RBIs, two doubles, six home runs, two grand slams and two walks. She finished the week with a 1.600 slugging percentage, a .636 on-base percentage and a .600 batting average.
She hit safely in all five of her games this week, including recording multiple hits in four of those game and multiple RBIs in three. In the Rainbow Wahine’s final game against Boise State on Saturday, Iwata tied the UH and WAC single-game home run record with three, while driving in a UH and WAC single-game record, eight RBIs.
Hawai‘i finished last week with a 5-0 record, sweeping a pair of away series at Utah State and Boise State (one game at Utah State was snowed out). The ‘Bows enter this week at 33-11 overall and 11-0 in the Western Athletic Conference.
The Rainbow Wahine are currently on an 11-game winning streak and have belted out an NCAA-best 106 home runs this season. They will battle Louisiana Tech this weekend in a three-game conference series starting with a single game on Friday at 6 p.m., followed by a doubleheader on Saturday 4 p.m.
Admission is free to all softball games.