March 20, 2002
TEMPE, Ariz. - Arizona State third baseman Phelan Wright (Los Alamitos, Calif.) has been named the Louisville Slugger/NFCA Division I National Player of the Week for the period of March 11-17, the NFCA announced Wednesday. On Monday, Wright was also named the Pac-10 Player of the Week. Only a sophomore, this is Wright's second NFCA National Player of the Week honor as she garnered the same award on April 30, 2001.
In six games last week at the KIA Klassic Tournament in Fullerton, California, Wright batted .700 (14-for-20) with six doubles, nine RBIs and four runs scored as ASU was the sole Pac-10 team (Arizona and Washington also competed) to advance to the semifinals of the KIA Tournament. In all six games she posted multi-hit games with 20 total bases and a 1.000 slugging percentage.
In the opening pool game against Texas, Wright went 2-for-4 with a double, knocking in two of the three runs, including the game winner in the top of the eighth. Against No. 14 DePaul, Wright went a perfect 4-for-4 with another double and three RBIs as ASU won its pool over DePaul 6-5.
In the opening round of championship play against Rutgers, she again went perfect, going 2-for-2 (both doubles) with two runs scored and one RBI as ASU run ruled Rutgers, 11-1.
In the quarterfinal game against No. 2 Arizona, Wright again provided the firepower, going 2-for-3 with a run scored as ASU shutout Arizona, 3-0. In the semifinals against No. 9 Cal State Fullerton, she went 2-for-3 with one double and three RBIs.
Overall, Wright leads Arizona State in batting average (.484), hits (45), doubles (12), home runs (6), slugging percentage (.806) and is second in RBIs (27).
Arizona State (28-7), who hosts New Mexico this Friday in a doubleheader at 7:00 p.m., jumped up two spots to No. 6 in this week's USA Today/NFCA Division I Top-25.