Guest Earns MW Pitcher of the Week, Fritz MW Freshman of the Week
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— Following a week in which the Lobos went 4-0 at the Purple Classic that included two shutouts, UNM garnered two Mountain West awards as McKenna Guest was named Mountain West Pitcher of the Week and Natalie Fritz Mountain West Freshman of the Week.
Monday’s selection marked the second weekly award for Guest, who won Freshman of the Week last season, and the first pitcher of the week award. Fritz is the fourth Lobo freshman to win the weekly freshman award in the last two seasons.
Fritz went 1-0 on the week and also added a save, throwing her first shutout against USD and her second complete game of the season. Fritz held the Toreros to three hits, retiring the side in order in five consecutive innings between the second and sixth innings, and finished with four strikeouts in the win. Of the three hits she allowed, two came in the first inning and one in the seventh, but worked herself out of the jam in both situations, which included a strikeout on a 3-2 count in the first inning with bases loaded.
In her home state of Arizona, Fritz picked up the save against Saint Joseph’s on Thursday, entering in the fifth inning with a runner on first and got the next three Hawks out to get the Lobos out of the inning. The right-handed pitcher retired the side in order in the sixth, needing eight pitches in the inning which also included a strikeout.
In her two appearances, Fritz had a 0.70 ERA while not allowing any extra-base hits in either appearance and struck out six to one walk in 10.0 innings in the circle.
Guest finished the Purple Classic going 2-0 with a 0.64 ERA behind one complete game, throwing 11.0 innings with 13 strikeouts to five walks.
The sophomore went 4.0 innings in the win against Saint Joseph’s to open the Purple Classic, finishing with seven strikeouts, including two in the first to leave a runner on third and two in the second, retiring the side in order. She added two strikeouts in the fourth, also retiring the side in order. After allowing a run against Penn in the first, Guest threw six scoreless innings to get the complete-game win, finishing with six strikeouts.
Guest accounted for half of UNM’s wins on the weekend, averaging 8.3 strikeouts per game. In total, Guest faced 50 batters between the two games, throwing 215 pitches, 142 of them going for strikes.