Kelsey Aikey

Western Kentucky pitcher Kelsey Aikey was named Conference USA Pitcher of the Week on Monday.

The award came one day after she pitched a 1-0 shutout Sunday against Florida International to clinch the Hilltoppers a spot in the C-USA Tournament.

Aikey opened and closed the game at the WKU Softball Complex with a swinging strikeout and racked up three more punchouts in between.

The Cedar Falls, Iowa, native allowed two hits in her sixth complete game of the year – her third complete-game shutout.

With the help of her defense after allowing the pair of hits, Aikey retired 12 consecutive Panther batters to keep the Hilltoppers in the driver’s seat and outduel reigning C-USA Freshman of the Year Shannon Saile.

Across the week, Aikey made a pair of appearances, working 11 1/3 innings while registering a 1.24 collective ERA with 10 strikeouts.

The sophomore was in shutdown mode under pressure. With opponent runners on base, Aikey allowed just three batters to reach base in 20 opportunities for a .150 average. She was even more impressive with two outs, allowing zero batters to reach base (0-for-11).

This marks Aikey’s second C-USA Pitcher of the Week nod of the season and her career after she shared the honor following her extra-inning no-hitter the second weekend of the 2018 campaign.