BOSTON – Suffolk softball's Payton Sylvester's continues to impress during her freshman campaign as she was named GNAC Corvias Pitcher and Rookie of the Week, the league office announced.
The combined awards come after the Worcester, Massachusetts, product won both of her appearances in the circle across 8.2 innings work where she posted an ERA of 0.81 ERA on the week. She allowed just two hits, one run and three walks with 10 strikeouts, five in each outing. Offensively, she produced a slash line of .476/.435/.762 with 10 hits in 21 plate appearances. She brought in 11 runs, scored eight herself and stole one base in a six-game week.
Sylvester started the week with a 5-7 showing in the series versus Saint Joseph's (Maine). In the opener she went 2-for-3 at the dish with one double for three RBI and two runs, before catapulting the Rams to victory in the closer. With the Rams trailing 5-3 and the bases juiced in the bottom of the fourth Sylvester sent a shot over the left center fence to clear the bases and flip the score in the blue-and-gold's favor. The grand slam was one of her three hits in the nightcap, in which she extended her hit streak to 21 straight contests. In that same outing, she came in to take over the circle where she threw lights out. In 3.2 innings, she allowed one run on two hits and two walks, while punching out five hitters to secure the crucial conference win for Suffolk.
After a rain soaked doubleheader versus Saint Joseph's (Conn.), where Sylvester tallied just one hit, a double, and scored one run, she picked things up in the regular season finale at Simmons. In each of the two games versus the Sharks, Sylvester had two hits and two RBI to her credit with one run scored in the opener and two runs in the closer. Her standout performance of the week came on the rubber in game two at Simmons as she tossed a 5.0 inning no-hitter. Sylvester retired the first 13 hitters she faced before finally allowing a baserunner on a walk. The rookie sat down the final out with a punchout, one of her five of the game needing just 62 pitches for the complete-game effort.
Throughout her rookie campaign, Sylvester has been tabbed the best rookie over a seven day stretch six times and was named the league's best twirler and player once. She also has a FPN Player of the Week nod to her credit to account for nine of the Rams' 15 weekly awards in 2018. Her sister, Delaney Sylvester has two player of the week honors from the conference, while Taylor Holmes has been named the best pitcher by the league twice. Both Delaney Sylvester and Taylor Holmes also have HeroSports.com DIII HERO of the Week status on their resumes as well.
With the regular season GNAC title in the books, Sylvester and Suffolk has now turned its attention to the upcoming 2018 GNAC Tournament. Official seeding of the postseason will be announced later this evening with the Rams set to host the first day of double elimination action Thursday, May 3 at East Boston Memorial Park.