She's Gonna Need A Bigger Trophy Case

Maybe the Southeastern Conference should consider making a Softball Freshman of the Week Other Than Haylie McCleney Award. From the looks of things in the early going, McCleney is going to be hard to beat for that award, and maybe some others. In the first three weeks of the season she has three awards, including two from the SEC.

Haylie McCleney plays on the nation's best softball team at Alabama and the freshman from Morris has many of the Crimson Tide's best marks. She has also won the SEC Freshman of the Week honor twice in the first three weeks of the season.

For the third straight week, McCleney led the team in hits and runs scored. She batted .611 (11-for-18) with nine runs, two doubles, a home run, nine RBI and four stolen bases.

Last weekend McCleney was named Most Valuable Player of the Bama Bash, one of the Crimson Tide's regular season tournaments.

McCleney had four multi-hit performances in the six-game week, including three games with three hits. The rookie scored at least one run and reached base in all but one game.

In the Bama Bash opener McCleney batted 3-for-3, scored four runs, drove in six, and hit a home run against Western Illinois. McCleney opened the week with a 3-for-4 outing at the plate against UAB and then posted another three-hit day against Iowa.

After three weeks, McCleney is batting .604 with 24 runs, 32 hits, three home runs, 14 RBI and 15 stolen bases.

McCleney is one reason Bama has won three tournaments this season and has a 16-09 record and No. 1 national ranking.

She and her Crimson Tide teammates have a busy week.

Alabama will play six games in four days this week, all at Rhoads Stadium. UA will open the week against Samford on Wednesday before playing its make-up game against South Alabama on Thursday. The Tide will then welcome Iowa State and St. John's for the Easton Classic on the weekend.