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South Alabama’s Beard, UL Lafayette’s Elkins named First Sun Belt Conference Softball Weekly Award Winners

NEW ORLEANS – Following the opening weekend of softball play, the Sun Belt Conference announced South Alabama’s Farish Beard and UL Lafayette’s Lexie Elkins as the Pitcher and Player of the Week respectively on Monday.

Beard, a junior went 3-0 on the weekend at the 2014 Mardi Gras Invitational, striking out 29 batters in 12.2 innings. She allowed no runs and only three hits on the weekend. She extended her shutout streak, which dates back to the 2013 SBC Tournament, to 46 innings.

Elkins, playing in her first games as a member of the Ragin’ Cajuns after transferring from Texas Tech prior to the season, was stellar at the plate on the weekend. The sophomore drove in nine runs, hit three home runs and batted .474. She hit two home runs in the season opener, including a two-run shot in extra innings to put the Ragin’ Cajuns ahead of Northern Iowa for good.

Elkins helped lead the Ragin’ Cajuns to two wins including one over North Carolina in 10 innings on Saturday.

Beard helped lead the No. 20-ranked Jaguars to their first 5-0 start in program history. Four Jaguars were named to the all-tournament team, and Beard was named the 2014 Mardi Gras Invitational Most Valuable Player after securing her third win of the season against Austin Peay. The Jaguars have four days off before heading to Athens, Ga., to face Ohio, Mercer, Furman and Georgia (twice) at the 2014 Bulldog Invitational, hosted by UGA.

Conference play for the 2014 Sun Belt Conference softball season begins on Saturday, March 22. All eight teams will advance to the conference tournament held May 7-10 in Lafayette, La., on the campus of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

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