Rockets Sweep MAC West Athletes of the Week Honors

CLEVELAND, Ohio – Senior Chandler Rice and sophomore Heather Webb have been named the Mid-American Conference West Division Player and Pitcher of the Week, respectively, the league office announced on Monday.

The weekly honor is Rice's second of the season and the fifth of her career, while this is the first ever weekly accolade for Webb. It is also the third week a Toledo player has earned this award (Cozy Feb. 14, Rice Feb. 21), and the first week for the Rocket pitchers.

"I am extremely proud of them both, they really stepped up for us this weekend," said head coach Kristen Butler. "Chandler is continuing to be a constant leader for us on and off the field and Heather is continually improving each game. They both will be play big roles in the success we see for the rest of the year."

Rice started all four games for the Rockets at the SIUE Tournament and is now riding a season-high and team-leading eight-game hitting streak. Highlighting the senior's weekend at the tournament was her perfect 4-for-4 performance at the dish vs. SIUE. Rice quickly ignited the Rockets' offense with a triple off the first pitch of the game. The Louisville, OH native also collected three doubles, three runs scored, two RBI and a swiped bag over the weekend. Rice finished the tournament with a .533 batting average (8-for-15), .867 slugging percentage and .562 on-base percentage to go along with her perfect 1.000 fielding percentage.

Webb went a perfect 2-0 at the Cougars' tournament. In a team-high four appearances in the circle for UT, Webb pitched for a team-pacing 15 innings. The sophomore fired a two-hit complete-game shutout in Toledo's 6-0 victory over Butler. Webb only faced 25 batters and struck out four in the contest. She then entered UT's game vs. NKU midway through the fourth and permitted only one run on three hits while striking out four in 3.0 innings. Webb closed out her weekend with a second win vs. the Bulldogs. She improved to 7-6 overall after allowing only two hits and retiring a pair for the Rockets in four innings of relief work.

Rice, Webb and the Rockets will head to Fort Wayne, IN for a mid-week tune-up before Toledo begins its MAC season. The Rockets will take on the Mastodons in a Wednesday doubleheader slated to begin at 2:30 p.m. UT opens conference play this weekend in Athens, OH with three games vs. the Bobcats.

Rockets Sweep MAC West Athletes of the Week Honors

Players Mentioned

Chandler Rice

Heather Webb

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