April 15, 2008

ROMEOVILLE, Ill. - For a second time this season, Lewis University's Mallory Paine is the Great Lakes Valley Conference Softball Player of the Week.

Paine, a senior catcher for the Flyers, was a record-setter in the Flyers' four wins last week. She became the first Flyer to hit three home runs in a game, accomplishing the feat in Lewis' 11-2 win over Kentucky Wesleyan on Sunday. And with the home runs, Paine also became the school's career home run leader.

In that first game against Kentucky Wesleyan, Paine was 4-for-4 with three home runs, seven RBIs and four runs scored. She completed the day by going 1-for-2 with two RBIs and a double in the 8-0 nightcap victory, breaking the Lewis career record for RBIs.

In Lewis' sweep of Southern Indiana on Monday, Paine went 1-for-3 with a home run, RBI, two runs scored and four walks. For the week, she went 6-for-9 (.667) with four home runs, 10 RBIs, eight runs scored and finished with a slugging percentage of 2.111.

Paine is hitting .353 on the year with 28 RBIs, 23 runs, seven home runs, eight doubles and a slugging percentage of .637. In conference games only, Paine leads the league with a robust .525 batting average.

Paine's selection as GLVC Player of the Week marks the fourth time this season a Flyers has been honored with the league's weekly award.

The 15th-ranked Flyers are 28-10 overall and 13-1 in the GLVC. They have won nine of their last ten games and have outscored their opponents 40-2 during their current five-game win streak. Lewis hosts UW-Parkside on Wednesday at 3 p.m.