Abilene Christian's
Lina Russo is putting her mark on her senior softball season, and it is being recognized.
The Western Atheltic Conference named Russo its Pitcher of the Week on Monday afternoon, making her a two-time honoree this season.
Russo also received the award on March 17.
In a pivotal series win at California Baptist, Russo threw every pitch of games two and three -- which the Wildcats won by identical 5-2 final scores. Russo allowed just two earned runs in her 14 innings, and struck out six batters. CBU entered the weekend with a .293 batting average, which was fourth best in the WAC. But the Lancers only hit .232 in their two games against Russo.
Russo has been steadily improving this season with six wins in her last seven starts. She has thrown four consecutive complete games to give her a WAC-leading 16 this year. Russo's ERA has also dropped to 3.25 -- its lowest point in her two seasons at ACU.
With their two wins at CBU, the Wildcats climbed into third place in the conference standings and also clinched a spot in the WAC Tournament for the first time since 2022.
ACU faces nationally-ranked Texas Tech on Tuesday in Lubbock. Game time has been moved up an hour to 5 p.m. due to possible storms in the area.
The team will then honor Russo and her seven fellow senior teammates this weekend in the final regular season series against Grand Canyon. ACU plays a doubleheader on Friday starting at 2 p.m., and one game on Saturday at 12 p.m. with a Senior Day ceremony to follow the series finale.
