BOSTON – Payton Sylvester of the Suffolk softball team has been named a nominee for HeroSports.com DIII Pitching HERO of the Week after a standup performance inside the circle. To vote for Sylvester, click here.
The nomination comes after Sylvester picked up her sixth GNAC Corvias Rookie of the Week nod and first-ever GNAC Corvias Pitcher of the Week accolade. To go along with her conference recognition, she was also named Player of the Week by FastPitchNews alongside her sister, Delaney Sylvester, to become the first-ever sisters to be recognized as Players of the Week the same week by the national organization.
Sylvester's 2-0 showing in the circle came in one start and one relief work. Through 8.2 innings she posted an ERA of 0.81 on the week, allowing just two hits, one run and three walks with 10 punchouts, five in each outing. The Worcester, Massachusetts, product's highlight performance came in the season finale at Simmons as the rookie righthander tossed a 5.0 inning no-hitter. Syvlester retired the first 13 hitters she faced before finally allowing a baserunner on a base on balls. She sat down the final out on strikeout, one of her five of the game needing just 62 pitches for the complete-game effort.
Her pitching performance went along with an offensive output which featured a slash line of .476/.435/.762 with 10 hits in 21 at bats. She tallied 11 RBI, scored eight runs and stole one base in a six-game week to help Suffolk lock up a share of the GNAC regular season title and the top seed in the upcoming conference tournament.
Sylvester and the Rams await the results of the first day of GNAC Tourney action to see who will be joining them and fourth-seeded Saint Joseph's (Maine) at East Boston Memorial Park as double elimination gets underway in Eastie Thursday, May 3.