BOSTON – Payton Sylvester of the Suffolk softball team has been tabbed GNAC Corvias Co-Player and Rookie of the Week after putting together a .538 batting average and a 1.615 slugging percentage performance at the plate over four games the league office announced Monday. Sylvester shares the player of the week nod with Johnson & Wales' Tiffani Semanchik.
Sylvester contributed in each of Suffolk's four games and helped the Rams to a 3-1 week registering seven hits, including six for extra bases (two doubles and four jacks), 13 RBI, eight runs and 15 total bases.
The Worcester, Massachusetts, product started the week commanding the circle versus conference powerhouse Johnson & Wales. In that same outing, which Suffolk dropped 15-3 in five innings, she racked up one RBI. In the nightcap versus the Wildcats, Sylvester hit a ball out of the park for the first time in her career. In the process, she collected two RBI and one run to help Suffolk defeat JWU, 6-1, and split the series with the preseason favorite.
Two days later, she opened the series with Anna Maria with a 1-for-3 effort at the dish with a pair of runs and one RBI. Her true highlight of the week came in the doubleheader closer versus the AMCATS. Sylvester put together a perfect performance at the plate, going 5-for-5 with three consecutive homers and one double for nine RBI and 15 total bases. She scored five times in the process, while allowing just two runs on two hits and one walk with three strikeouts through 4.0 innings on the rubber.
Sylvester's standout game against Anna Maria, where she recorded career highs in nearly every hitting category, she became the 10th player in NCAA Division III history to hit three jacks in a row and first to accomplish the feat since Charlotte Park of Monmouth barreled four straight dingers April 17, 2014. Her 15 total bases, meanwhile, are not only the most under Jaclyn Davis, but mark the first time across DIII that a player had 15 or more total baes since Monmouth's Park April 17, 2014. Overall, Sylvester is the eighth-ever player to have 15 or more total bases in a single outing. Her nine RBI and three homers also mark a best in the Davis era.
The accolades mark the third time this season that Sylvester has been recognized by the conference with weekly accolades. She has been named the best rookie over a seven day stretch twice March 12 and March 19 and earned her first-ever player of the week recognition. Sylvester became the first Rams rookie to garner three rookie of the week nods in the record books, which date through the 2009 season. As a squad, Suffolk has taken home five weekly accolades in 2018 with Delaney Sylvester garnering player of the week March 12 and Taylor Holmes taking home pitcher of the week March 19.
Sylvester and Suffolk are back on the diamond tomorrow, Tuesday, April 3 when it steps out of conference play for a double feature with Brandeis. First pitch at East Boston Memorial Park is set for 3 p.m.