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Nebraska’s Ava Kuszak Named Softball America Star of the Week

Nebraska’s Ava Kuszak earns Softball America Star of the Week honors after a standout performance in New Mexico.
Maren Angus-Coombs|
Nebraska softball's Ava Kuszak rounds third and fist-bumps head coach Rhonda Revelle after hitting a home run against Bethune-Cookman.
Nebraska softball's Ava Kuszak rounds third and fist-bumps head coach Rhonda Revelle after hitting a home run against Bethune-Cookman. | Nebraska Athletics

Nebraska shortstop Ava Kuszak was named one of Softball America's four stars of the week Tuesday morning for her performance at the Troy Cox Classic.

The three other stars are S.J. Guerin of Auburn, Tegan Kavan of Texas and Miranda Stoddard of Arizona.

Kuszak tied both the school and Big Ten record for home runs in a game with three against Montana on Sunday.

Over five games in New Mexico, she went 9-for-14 (.643) with six home runs, leading the Huskers to five run-rule victories. In just 14 at-bats and 19 plate appearances, she averaged 1.8 hits, 1.2 home runs, 2.0 runs, and 2.6 RBIs per game.

Along with her .643 batting average, Kuszak posted a .684 on-base percentage and a 1.929 slugging percentage.

"The Wisconsin transfer was brought in to assume Billie Andrews’ role at shortstop and hit for power," Brady Vernon writes. "She showed plenty of it in New Mexico. She hit six home runs including a hat trick against Montana in the road trip finale."

Kuszak homered in four of Nebraska’s five games, including a record-breaking performance against Montana where she went 4-for-4 with three home runs. In that game, she set career highs with four hits, three homers, four runs, and six RBIs.

Kuszak started the tournament by going 2-for-5 with two home runs, two walks, three runs, and four RBIs in games against Texas A&M Corpus Christi and New Mexico State.

On day two, Kuszak finished 3-for-5 with a home run, two walks, three runs, and three RBIs in wins over Montana and Northern Colorado.

Kuszak was previously named the Big Ten Co-Player of the Week.

The No. 16 Huskers are in California this weekend to face Baylor, No. 4 UCLA, No. 11 Duke, San Jose State, Howard, and Utah.

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Maren Angus-Coombs
MAREN ANGUS-COOMBS

Maren Angus-Coombs was born in Los Angeles and raised in Nashville, Tenn. She is a graduate of Middle Tennessee State University and has been a sports writer since 2008. She has been covering college softball since 2016 and spent the 2023 season covering Husker Softball for Hail Varsity. In addition to All Huskers, she is a staff writer for the Los Angeles Sports Report.

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