Texas’ Reese Atwood was named the Big 12 Softball Player of the Week for the second time in three weeks while Oklahoma State’s Lexi Kilfoyl earned her first Pitcher of the Week nod of the season. Atwood was also named the Louisville Slugger/NFCA D1 Player of the Week and helped UT stay at No. 2 in the NFCA poll while Kilfoyl was selected as the Wilson/NFCA D1 Pitcher of the Week and lifted OSU to the No. 3 ranking.

Atwood led the Conference in hits (11), home runs (5), RBIs (16), total bases (27) and slugging percentage (1.588) during the third week of the season. The sophomore became just the third student-athlete to ever hit a home run off Stanford All-American pitcher NiJaree Canady when she hit a 263-foot game-tying homer against the Cardinal. Her .647 batting average was the highest among Big 12 players with 13-or-more official plate appearances. Through 13 games this season, the 2023 All-Big 12 Second Team member leads the Big 12 in batting average (.632), home runs (9), RBIs (31), total bases (55) and slugging percentage (1.447). Atwood is the first player since 2021 and the fifth overall to win the award twice in the first three weeks of the season. With UT’s Kayden Henry named last week’s player of the week, this is the first time the Longhorns have secured the accolade three consecutive weeks.

Kilfoyl was the only pitcher nationally last week to throw three complete-game shutouts as she helped Oklahoma State go 3-0 in her starts, including victories over then-No. 16/19 Florida and then-No. 4/4 Washington. The Cowgirls’ victory over the Huskies was the second-most lopsided win (7-0) in program history over an NFCA top-five opponent and was Oklahoma State’s first shutout of an NFCA top-five opponent since 2017. Over her 21 innings she gave up just six hits and two walks while totaling 18 strikeouts and limited hitters to a .090 batting average. This is the University Studies major’s third weekly league honor. 

A full list of this season’s weekly award winners can be found here.