MonticelloLive

After a record-setting week that saw the University of Arkansas at Monticello Cotton Blossoms clinch their sixth Gulf South Conference-West Division title in eight years, first baseman Meredith Heckel (Jr., Hot Springs, Ark.) has been named Gulf South Conference-West Division Player of the Week for the week ending April 29. The award is Heckel’s second of the season and marks the seventh time this season that a Blossoms player has garnered weekly honors.

Heckel capped an amazing regular season by hitting .667 for the week on 14-of-21 hitting with five home runs, 14 RBI, breaking three UAM records and tying another on the regular season’s final day as she went 5-for-5 against Southern Arkansas where the Cotton Blossoms clinched the outright GSC-West crown.

The stellar performance by Heckel has keyed the Cotton Blossoms to a nine-game winning streak as they enter the Gulf South Conference tournament. Thus far this season, Heckel has broken the UAM single-season record for home runs with 19, hits with 89, runs with 66, and total bases with 169. She is on pace to break the single-season slugging percentage mark at .849, far surpassing the previous record of .711 set by Laura Lockaby in 2004; and is also on pace to break the single-season on-base percentage mark at .502,  slightly ahead of the previous record of .491 set by Jennifer Gregory in 1998. Heckel also tied Lockaby’s career home runs mark and enters postseason play with 33 career home runs.

“Meredith has not only hit well but she has also come up big in crucial situations for us along the way,” said Cotton Blossoms head coach Alvy Early. “Every game we played down the stretch was important and Meredith’s consistency both hitting and defensively has been incredibly important to us.”

Heckel is the fourth Blossoms player to win weekly honors this season, joining two-time winners Becca Tipton (Fr., Dermott, Ark.) and Jenny Dunn (Jr., Adelaide, Australia), as well as UAM’s lone pitcher of the week this season, Kate Brady (Jr., Longview, Texas).

The Blossoms will open Gulf South Conference tournament play on Friday, May 4, facing West Georgia at 9 a.m. at the Greenbrook Softball Complex in Southaven, Mississippi.