Carlie Scupin Named Pac-12 Player and Pac-12 Freshman of the Week
TUCSON, Ariz. -- Arizona freshman first baseman Carlie Scupin has been named the Pac-12 Freshman and Player of the Week, the conference announced on Tuesday.
Scupin was nearly unstoppable at the plate, helping lead Arizona to a 5-0 sweep of the Wildcat Invitational last weekend and improve to 10-0 this season. The freshman hit .438 with four home runs and 15 RBI.
She drove in 15 of UA's 44 runs scored over the weekend, using a grand slam and two three-run homers to do the heavy lifting. Only three other players in the Pac-12 have more than 15 RBI this season (three weeks), and Scupin reached the number in one weekend; she has 17 total this season.
Four homers ??
Fifteen (15!) RBI ??
The eighth-inning equalizer vs. Oregon State ??
D1 Softball Freshman of the Week ??
Pac-12 Player of the Week ??
Pac-12 Freshman of the Week ??Have a week, @carliescupin! pic.twitter.com/1m9eTAw165
— Arizona Softball (@ArizonaSoftball) March 2, 2021
The Tucson native had least one hit and at least one RBI in every game over the weekend, extending her active hitting streak to seven games and her active RBI-streak to six. Her most important RBI of her young career came on Sunday, when the Cats found themselves down a run in the bottom of the eighth inning vs. Oregon State. Scupin singled to left to tie the game and then the Cats won the game two batters later.
Scupin's honor makes it two straight weeks the Wildcats have had the Pac-12 Player of the Week after Alyssa Palomino-Cardoza earned the honor after Arizona's opening weekend at the Hillenbrand Invitational. Scupin becomes the first Wildcat to sweep Player and Freshman of the Week honors since Jessie Harper did so April 24-30, 2017.
For the season, Scupin is hitting .375 with a team-best five home runs and 17 RBI. She is slugging 1.000 this season. She is the first UA freshman since 2012 to hit five home runs over her first 10 games.
Arizona, which rose one spot to No. 2 in this week's NFCA Top 25 -- its highest ranking since April 10, 2017 -- will hit the road for a two-weekend road trip in Florida, where the Cats will face South Florida, UCF, Florida A&M and Florida State over a eight-day span.