Tusculum’s Ashley Burke, Brevard’s Martika Elmore Named Softball Players Of The Week

ROCK HILL, S.C. -- Tusculum College's Ashley Burke has been named the South Atlantic Conference Softball Player of the Week and Brevard College's Martika Elmore earned league Pitcher of the Week honors for the week ending March 13, announced conference officials Monday.

Burke, a junior outfielder from North Augusta, S.C. (North Augusta HS), hit two clutch home runs to help the Pioneers upset a pair of top five teams, and also directly contributed to a doubleheader sweep of King earlier in the week. She hit the game-tying homer in the seventh of a 2-1 eight-inning win over No. 2 North Georgia on Friday, then slugged the tiebreaking homer in the sixth of a 3-2 win over No. 4 Alabama-Huntsville on Sunday. Against King, she singled home the tying run and scored the go-ahead run in a 2-1 win in game one, then had a two-run double as part of a 5-2 win in game two. Overall, Burke leads the Pioneers in batting average (.346), hits (27), doubles (10), home runs (2) and RBI (20) to help Tusculum to a 19-8 record, already surpassing last year's win total of 17.

Elmore, a senior from Fayetteville, N.C. (UNC-Pembroke), wins for the second time this season. She went 3-1 on the week and threw 32 innings in four games for Brevard. She had 31 strikeouts, averaging 6.2 punchouts per game. She allowed just nine earned runs in her 32 innings of work for the Tornados. Elmore threw a no-hitter, her first of the season, in the win over Davis & Elkins. She was a walk away from a perfect game. She also threw a complete game shutout against Francis Marion where she was touched for five hits and walked just one. Elmore is one of the conference leaders in strikeouts with 134 in just 104 innings of work and has a 1.41 earned run average.

Ashley Burke	Martika Elmore