Senior catcher Madison Stoner has been the hottest hitter for the Hillsdale College softball team during an 11-2 stretch for the Chargers.
After another big weekend, the Great Midwest Athletic Conference is taking notice, naming Stoner the G-MAC Softball Player of the Week for the first time in her career, the conference office announced on Tuesday.
The senior from Hunker, Pennsylvania battered visiting Tiffin on Saturday to help the Chargers win both halves of a home doubleheader, 16-9 and 6-1. In the first game, Stoner went 4 for 5 at the plate with three hits that drove in runs – a two-run single in the bottom of the third inning that got Hillsdale on the board, a double in the bottom of the fourth that scored a run, and a three-run home run in the bottom of the sixth that helped seal the victory.
Stoner stayed hot in the nightcap, going 2 for 3 with a RBI double as Hillsdale improved to 4-0 in the G-MAC.
This kind of performance is nothing new for Stoner, who went 6 for 7 in a sweep of Lake Erie the previous weekend with a solo home run and three RBIs.
In what is unequivocally her best season to date, Stoner leads the Chargers in batting average (.422), on-base percentage (.526) and slugging percentage (.703), and is second on the team in home runs (4) and RBIs (25). If maintained for the remainder of the season, both Stoner's batting average and slugging percentage would rank among the top 10 all-time in Hillsdale history for a single season.
Stoner and the Chargers look to stay on track this weekend with home doubleheaders against Malone and Walsh at 1 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday this weekend.
Photo by Kasidy Carson