Haylie McCleney Named SEC Player of the Week
2/16/2015 12:00:00 AM | Softball
TUSCALOOSA, Ala . - For the second time in as many weeks, Alabama has been recognized by the Southeastern Conference as junior Haylie McCleney is this week's SEC Player of the Week.
This past week, McCleney led the Crimson Tide offense with a .571 batting average, 12 hits and 11 RBI. She earned a hit in five of the week's six games, including four multi-hit performances. She showed off her trademark speed out of the leadoff position as well, with five of her 12 hits going for extra bases (4 doubles, 1 triple). On Feb. 13, she scored a career-high four runs and drove in a season-high four RBI in the 15-6 victory over Stanford. The next day, McCleney slid into home as the game-winning run in the Tide's extra-inning victory over Cal Poly, tagging up at third on a shallow fly ball to left field to score on the sacrifice fly. She matched her season-high four RBI in the weekend finale against Pacific on Feb. 15, going 3-3 from the plate with a pair of doubles. For her outstanding play, she was named to the Stanford Nike Invitational All-Tournament team.
So far this season, the Morris, Ala., native is leading the Tide offense with a .568 average (21-37), seven doubles and 15 RBI. She is 11-12 in stolen bases and has drawn seven walks, owning a .660 on-base percentage. She is the current Alabama career leader in batting average (.463), on-base percentage (.557) and is second in stolen base percentage (.938).
This is already the second weekly SEC honor for Alabama this season, matching its total from all of last year. Last week, sophomore Sydney Littlejohn was named the SEC Pitcher of the Week thanks in large part to her perfect game performance against Eastern Kentucky at the Sand Dollar Classic.
Florida's Lauren Haeger is this week's SEC Pitcher of the Week and LSU freshman pitcher Allie Walljasper is the SEC Freshman of the Week.
This week, Alabama heads to Birmingham to play UAB on Tuesday, Feb. 17 at 6 p.m. before returning to Tuscaloosa to host the Easton Bama Bash, starting on Friday, Feb. 20. Alabama welcomes three teams that all made the NCAA Tournament last season: No. 8 Michigan, James Madison and Lipscomb.
