MOREHEAD, Ky. – Entering this season, it had been three years since the Morehead State softball team had an Ohio Valley Conference Pitcher of the Week. Now the same individual has won the award twice this spring.
Junior
Ainsley Stubbs was named the league's co-Pitcher of the Week after a vote by the OVC's softball communication directors from each school, the conference office announced on Monday afternoon.
Stubbs finished the week with a 2-0 record, a 0.64 ERA, a 1.45 WHIP, with four strikeouts and six walks in 11 innings in the Eagles' three-game road series with Southern Indiana that included MSU winning the first two contests. For the week, she surrendered 10 hits but held the Screaming Eagles to a .238 batting average.
"I'm very grateful to be recognized for this award. I could not have performed like I did this weekend without the prep and work in practice with Coach (Megan) Griff(ith) and really being able to rely on my defense to back me up in the field, and my offense to put runs on the board so I was able to work!" she said.
Stubbs previously earned the honor on March 1 after pitching in all five of the team's games at Memphis' Blues City Invitational, where she held opponents to a .200 batting average, while adding a 1-1 record, a 1.66 ERA, with 13 strikeouts, seven walks and one wild pitch in 12 and two-thirds innings. In addition, she allowed nine hits and finished with a 1.26 WHIP. She made one errorless play in the field.
Prior to that award, MSU had not had an OVC Pitcher of the Week since May 3, 2022, and the selection before that came on April 2, 2018.
Now Stubbs has been chosen twice in the same season.
"We're proud of Ainsley and her performance last series," Coach Griffith said. "She was strong for us in all three games and kept the hitters off balance and off the bases."
A native of Columbia, Mo., Stubbs is in her first season with the club after transferring from Gulf Coast State College in Florida. She is a graduate of Battle High School.
Stubbs began the week by getting the start in game one against Southern Indiana. She earned the win (an MSU 2-1 victory) after pitching four innings, allowing one (earned) run on five hits, with two strikeouts, four walks and one hit batsman. In game two, she entered with two outs in the fourth and finished the game by throwing three and a third scoreless innings, surrendering two hits and two walks, while striking out one to earn the win (a 10-6 MSU victory). In game three, she entered with one out in the third and pitched the final three and two-third scoreless innings, yielding just three hits and no walks, while striking out one. She did not have to make a defensive play in the field.
"Just mixing spins and keeping hitters off balance," she said of the keys to her success. "Coach Griff and I talked a lot beforehand on how we were going to approach each hitter!"
Over the last five seasons, Morehead State has had at least one player earn an OVC weekly honor. Stubbs is the first Eagle to win two awards in the same year since Emily Williams collected two Player of the Week accolades in back-to-back weeks in March of 2023. The last time MSU had a pitcher earn the honor twice in the same season was in 2018, when Chelsea McManaway accomplished the feat.
On the year, Stubbs has a 4-8 record, with a 6.49 ERA, with 120 hits, 57 strikeouts and 49 walks in 77 and two-thirds innings of work. She has more strikeouts than the rest of the pitching staff combined.
In the OVC, she ranks fifth in innings pitched, fifth in strikeouts and 10th in batters struck out looking (nine). She also sits tied for 42nd in total pitching appearances (26) and tied for 246th in innings pitched among Division I pitchers.
Stubbs shared the pitching honor with Ryleigh Owens of Lindenwood. Western Illinois' Payton Brown was named the Player of the Week. Junior catcher/third baseman
Sydney Farmer (.500 batting average, three runs, two doubles, two RBI, two walks, one hit by pitch, a .750 slugging percentage and a .636 on-base percentage) was MSU's nominee for Player of the Week.
Morehead State (4-25/3-12) will play its first mid-week game of the season when the Eagles travel to Kentucky to face the Wildcats on Wednesday at 6 p.m. The squad then comes home to host Tennessee State in a pivotal OVC weekend series. Those outings will feature a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at noon and a single contest on Sunday also starting at noon.
