ALFRED, NY – The Empire 8 has selected Arden Hatch (Orangevale, CA/St. Francis) as the Softball Pitcher of the Week as made official in an announcement by Associate Commissioner, Joe Venniro on Monday.
 
Hatch was undefeated on the week as she picked up the No. 1 seed-clinching win at Russell Sage College on Sunday. She totaled 18 strikeouts on the week and only gave up eight hits and two runs. Hatch pitched a shutout over RIT until they scored at the end of the game, after Hatch had exited the circle. Out of the hits she gave up, none of them were a double or higher. She first struck out seven against the Tigers of RIT and then broke a collegiate career-best with 11 K's at Sage. Hatch also got some time in the batters' box at RSC, going 2-for-3 with a run. Defensively, she had three assists on the week with two on Sunday.
 
The junior pitcher was joined in the Empire 8 listings by fellow Saxons, Scott Kimiecik (Randolph, NJ/Randolph) as the Men's Lacrosse Goalie of the Week and Ana Ion (Bucharest, Romania/Episcopal School of Jacksonville) as the Women's Field Athlete of the Week on Monday.
 
Hatch and the Saxons will next host the Empire 8 Softball Tournament on Thursday through Saturday, May 5 through May 7 as AU plays No. 4 Nazareth College on Thursday evening at 4:30pm.