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UNCG's Akiyama named SoCon Student-Athlete of the Week
SPARTANBURG, S.C. - UNC Greensboro third baseman Emily Akiyama has been named the Southern Conference Student-Athlete of the Week for games May 12-18, the league office announced Wednesday.
A senior sports medicine major from Kirkland, Wash., Akiyama boasts a 3.75 grade point average. She hit .333 with a pair of walks and a pair of sacrifice bunts for the fourth-seeded Spartans at the SoCon tournament last week.
In UNCG's win over top-seeded Chattanooga on Thursday, Akiyama walked and had a sacrifice bunt. She also made a nice pickup of a sharply hit grounder in the fifth inning to preserve pitcher Amber Harrell's no-hitter, which she carried into the seventh. Later that day against No. 2 seed Elon, Akiyama was 1-for-3, helping UNCG rally for three runs in the sixth inning.
The following day, Akiyama was 2-for-2 with a walk, reaching base in all three plate appearances, as UNCG topped third-seeded Georgia Southern 2-1 in an elimination game. She ended her weekend with a sacrifice in the title game against Elon, advancing a runner in UNCG's two-run fourth inning.
The award is the first of Akiyama's career and the second this season for a UNCG softball player, as senior Laura Olenderski took the honor on March 24. All told, UNCG has taken the award seven times this academic school year, with men's track and field and cross country runner Joey Thompson winning it twice and women's basketball players Amy Clapper and Monique Floyd and women's golfer Sofia Aidemark earning it once each.
UNCG's seven Student-Athlete of the Week awards are the most in the SoCon this school year. The Spartans have had the winner in three of the last five weeks.
- UNCG -
