Alabama’s Bailey Hemphill and Lexi Kilfoyl Earn SEC Weekly Softball Awards
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – For the second time this season, Bailey Hemphill and Lexi Kilfoyl share the spotlight with a pair of weekly awards from the Southeastern Conference, earning this week’s SEC Player of the Week and Newcomer of the Week accolades, respectively.
Hemphill reached base safely in 12 of her 13 at-bats over last weekend’s Texas A&M series, hitting 5-for-6 (.833) along with five walks for a .923 on base percentage. Her second walk in Thursday’s series opener marked the 200th of her career, making her Alabama’s career leader in the category and just the fourth SEC player to reach the milestone. She earned at least one hit and walk in each game of the series and drove in at least two runs in each game, totaling seven RBIs.
Kilfoyl was a dual threat against the Aggies, appearing in the circle and at the plate in all three games. She earned a complete-game victory in the series opener, allowing just one earned run, before earning a save in game two. As a hitter, she went 4-for-7 (.571) over the weekend with three RBIs, earning at least one hit and walk each game to finish the three-game series with a .750 on base percentage. She drove in the game-ending RBI single in Friday’s run-rule win and her two-run single in game two ultimately proved the difference in the 8-6 victory.
The player of the week accolade is the second of Hemphill’s career, the first coming on March 16 earlier this season, and the third this year for Alabama with Kaylee Tow winning it on Feb. 22. In total, the Tide has earned 50 Player of the Week honors in program history.
This is already Kilfoyl’s second Newcomer of the Week award, created specifically by the SEC for spring sports this season to recognize student-athletes that were freshmen in 2020 and are now sophomores in 2021. Kilfoyl previously won the league’s inaugural award on March 16 and is the first player to win it twice.
