PacWest Release #10

Phoenix, AZ -- Junior Lauren Stover put together an extremely consistent week that culminated with a big time cluch hit Sunday to earn her third selection to the Hawaii Tourism Authority Pacific West Conference Fantastic 15. The honor was announced by the PacWest Media Office in Phoenix, AZ on Monday, Apr. 8 for games played Apr. 1 - 7.

Stover started the week going 3-for-5 in two close battles with Chaminade on Apr. 3. She also had one walk in each contest, making it five consecutive games in which she had worked a free pass. The hits continued for ART U's starting shortstop as the Knights moved into their first Tournament of Champions. On day one (Apr. 5), she was 1-for-3 versus Western Washington, 1-for-4 against Azusa Pacific, and finally 1-for-4 versus Montana State-Billings in a game where she scored what ended up being the winning run.

The junior from Las Vegas, NV exploded for a 3-for-3 performance against Saint Martin's the following day (Apr. 6), scoring the a run during the Knights' opening inning rally and later singling in the go-ahead run to make it 3-2 ART U. Stover made it 13 consecutive games in which she had reached base with that outing. However, it was the final day of the Tournament of Champions (Apr. 7) that was the most dramatic for Stover. After driving in the first run of the game on a single in the opening inning, Stover eventually found herself up with the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh and the game tied 3-3. Squaring on a 1-0 pitch, she launched a single to left center and sent her team a walk-off winner 4-3 as winners of the Platinum Bracket.

"The game was so surreal," Stover said. "My final at-bat was just a moment I had to dig down and pull it out for my team. Before I stepped in the box, I took a deep breath and told myself to stay patient and only hit my pitch and that's what I did. On the second pitch, NDNU made the mistake and I took the time to capitalize, putting off my best swing to advance the winning run. I'm so proud of the girls digging down deep and fighting for the win in seventh. It was a complete team effort!"

For the week, Stover hit .440 in eight starts, going 11-for-25 with two runs, four RBIs, four walks, and a .440 slugging rate. She also had a .517 on-base average.

Stover currently leads the team with a .381 batting average (9th in PacWest), .453 on-base percentage (6th in PacWest), 20 RBIs, three home runs, and five doubles.

This is the third PacWest Weekly honor of 2013 for Stover and the seventh in her Academy of Art career.