Parker Named NFCA National Pitcher of the Week

NORMAN — For the second time in her career, Oklahoma senior pitcher Paige Parker has been named the Louisville Slugger NFCA Division I National Pitcher of the Week, the National Fastpitch Coaches Association announced Tuesday.

This is Parker's second national weekly accolade of the season, as she was also named USA Softball Player of the Week on April 3. Overall, Parker has five national weekly honors in her career – two from the NFCA and three from USA Softball – to match Sooner alumna Keilani Ricketts for the most in program history.

Parker, who was also named Big 12 Pitcher of the Week on Monday, is the second Sooner to receive national recognition from the NFCA this season, joining Jocelyn Alo (Player of the Week, March 27).

The Independence, Mo., native improved to 24-2 this season with a pair of wins in two starts against Oklahoma State last week. She did not give up a run, earned or unearned, over 10.1 innings pitched in the series.

In game one on Wednesday, Parker registered her first no-hitter of the season. After the lead-off batter drew a walk, Parker retired the next 15 opponents in order in a five-inning run-rule win. She now has six complete-game no hitters in her career, and she has also combined on one.

Overall, Parker only allowed two hits all weekend, holding opponents to a .065 batting average. She struck out 13 batters for an 8.81 strikeouts per seven innings average.

She was also the only Big 12 pitcher to register a shutout last week. Parker finished 2018 conference play with a 0.51 ERA in Big 12 games, coming in as the only pitcher with an ERA below 1.00.

The Sooners begin postseason play this week at The Phillips 66 Big 12 Softball Championship on May 11-12 at USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City. The Sooners will be the No. 1 seed and will face No. 4 Texas (2 p.m. CT) and No. 6 Iowa State (7:30 p.m. CT) during Friday's pool play.