River Forest, Ill. – Sophomore Hannah Richards of the Dominican University Softball team was named the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) Softball Pitcher Student Athlete of the Week for the week ending March 15^th.

Richards, a sophomore pitcher from Poulsbo, Washington, pitched in 4 games this past week, while starting in the circle in all four of those games for the Stars. In the first game against Wittenberg, Richards took the loss in this one but pitched 6 innings while giving up 1 hit and 0 earned runs. She also collected 3 strikeouts. Hannah bounced back in her second outing against Beloit, throwing 5 scoreless innings and collecting 5 strikeouts. The sophomore continued that momentum against Ohio Wesleyan, throwing in 4 innings, only giving up one earned run with a strikeout. In the final outing of the week against Babson, she threw 4 innings, giving up an earned run in the win. Overall, for the week, Richards threw in 19 innings while holding a 0.73 ERA and only giving up 2 earned runs in those innings. She also collected 9 strikeouts throughout the week.

Head Coach Cristina Lukas commented on Richards's NACC Pitcher of the Week by saying, "Hannah was a major contributor to our 6-2 record this past week. She threw a 1-hitter and a 3-hitter in the same week. I am excited to see her continued development over the season."

Richards and the Dominican University Softball team will be back in action this Saturday afternoon with their NACC opener against Concordia Wisconsin. The first pitch is set for 1:00 p.m. at Triton College.