SIOUX CITY, Iowa – After a stellar one-hit shutout performance to wrap up the trip to Tucson, Ariz., Kate Kralik has garnered Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) Pitcher of the Week honors, the conference office announced this morning.
Kralik (Fr., Indianola, Iowa/Indianola) was phenomenal in the fourth meeting against the Viterbo (Wis.) V-Hawks last Monday. She threw a complete game (5.0 innings), allowing just one Viterbo hit and walked one. She struck out nine V-Hawk hitters out of the 17 batters she faced on the day.
On the season, she has the second-best ERA on the team at 2.05 with the most innings pitched (78.2 IP). Her 78.2 innings pitched is most in the league thus far, and her ERA sits fifth-best in the GPAC. Her impressive 11 wins also sits best in the conference. She has a .218 batting average against and has recorded the most strikeouts of any GPAC pitcher with 81.
The freshman from Indianola, Iowa now has tossed two shutouts and five complete games on the year as the Raiders sit 21-3 entering conference play this week. She improves to 11-1 in the circle on the year for head coach Shane Bouman’s squad.
For the second straight week, a Raider has earned softball athlete of the week honors. A week ago, it was Jennifer Boeve garnering GPAC Player of the Week honors. Kralik becomes the first Northwestern GPAC Pitcher of the Week since Kameryn Etherington did it last season to kickoff the 2021 season.
