Kansas’ Daniella Chavez and Iowa State’s Savannah Sanders have earned the initial weekly softball awards thanks to impressive performances during the opening weekend of the season. Chavez hit a lofty .588 with three home runs and 10 RBI over the course of five games, and Sanders went 3-0 with a 0.81 ERA over 17.1 innings while compiling 23 strikeouts. It marks the first career weekly award for either player, however Chavez was chosen as the conference Co-Freshman of the Year and was named to the All-Big 12 First Team as a designated player in 2015.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Daniella Chavez, Kansas, INF, So., Crowley, Texas
Chavez picked up in 2016 right where she left off after being named the Big 12 Co-Freshman of the Year in 2015. The sophomore infielder blasted three home runs and drove in 10 as Kansas opened the season by going 2-3 at the River City Leadoff in Jacksonville, Florida. She batted .588 (10-for-17) and led Kansas in hits (10) and runs scored (5), while posting a monstrous 1.118 slugging percentage. A year ago, Chavez broke the school record with 67 RBI and hit a freshman-best 16 long balls. The Crowley, Texas native has started 2016 with several hot streaks, which include hitting a home run in each of the last three games and posting a multi-hit game in the last four games. Chavez also tallied three RBI in three of the last four games. She recorded six-straight hits in six at-bats after posting a combined 6-for-6 effort with a home run and six RBI against Jacksonville and Coastal Carolina. In the final two games, both against UNC Greensboro, Chavez went 5-for-8 with a pair of long balls and four RBI. 

PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Savannah Sanders, Iowa State, RHP, Fr., Mt. Juliet, Tenn.
Sanders was dominant in her Iowa State debut at the 2016 Cyclone Indoor Invitational. She compiled a 3-0 record at the tournament, with a win against IUPUI and a pair of victories over an Eastern Illinois team that only lost two games all weekend. Sanders put up an ERA of just 0.81 while pitching two complete games. In 17.1 innings across three games, the freshman gave up 12 hits and just two earned runs while registering 23 strikeouts. After pitching a shutout in Iowa State’s season-opening win over IUPUI, perhaps Sanders’ most valuable performance came in her relief work against a feisty Eastern Illinois squad in game two. With the score tied at 5-5 and two out in the top of the sixth, Sanders came on to relieve teammate Emma Hylen with a runner on second. Sanders rolled in the final 4.1 innings of Iowa State’s 10-inning thriller. The freshman gave up just one earned run as Iowa State would come back to win, 8-7, in walk-off fashion.

Big 12 Softball Weekly Awards