Tennessee’s Raven Chavanne selected as USA Softball National Collegiate Player of the Week

March 26, 2013

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Tennessee’s Raven Chavanne selected as USA Softball National Collegiate Player of the Week

 

OKLAHOMA CITY ---  Raven Chavanne (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) is the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Week for March 18-24, the Amateur Softball Association (ASA) of America and USA Softball announced today.  The Tennessee senior’s timely hitting played a key role in helping the then-No. 8 Lady Vols sweep then-No. 4 Texas A&M over the weekend. Chavanne scored or drove in 11 of UT’s 28 runs en route to a 4-0 record over the week. She finished the week with a .750 batting average (9-for-12) with six runs and five RBI helping UT move up three spots to No. 5 in this week’s ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25.

 

“It’s such an exciting honor to be recognized as player of the week,” said Chavanne. “I just want to thank my team because this wouldn’t be possible without them.”

 

The California native started the week going 2-for-2 with two runs and an RBI against Murray State on Tuesday. On Friday, in game one of a three-game series with Texas A&M, the Lady Vols trailed by one in the bottom of the sixth until Raven hammered a game-winning, three-run homer. Two days later, with Tennessee going for the series sweep, Chavanne showed why she is a two-time Top 10 Finalists for USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year.  With the game tied in the seventh, the lefty led off with an infield single to short. Two batters later, Chavanne scored on a hit to right field securing the win and series sweep for Tennessee.

 

"Raven is a tremendous competitor and really stepped up to lead our team this past week,” said Tennessee Co-Head Coach Karen Weekly. “We are very proud of her."

 

This is the second USA Softball National Collegiate Player of the Week honor for Chavanne. She was last honored in week 12 of the 2012 season. Chavanne was selected as a Top 25 Finalist for USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year as a freshman in 2010 and a Top 10 Finalist in both her sophomore and junior years. Tennessee’s Ivy Renfroe was the last Lady Vol to garner USA Softball Player of the Week honors in week five of this season.

 

2013 USA Softball National Collegiate Players of the Week Week 1 (Feb. 7-10): Keilani Ricketts - Oklahoma - Senior - Pitcher– San Jose, Calif. Week 2 (Feb. 11-17): BB Bates – UCLA – Senior – Outfield – Victorville, Calif. Week 3 (Feb. 18-24): Mel Dumezich – Texas A&M – Senior – Pitcher – Whiting, Ind.

Week 4 (Feb. 25- March 3): Katie Keller – Louisville – Junior – Second Base – Livermore, Calif.

Week 5 (March 4-10): Ivy Renfroe – Tennessee – Senior – Pitcher – Jackson, Tenn.

Week 6 (March 11-17): Kaia Parnaby – Hawai’i – Senior – Pitcher – Bilgola Plateau, NSW, Australia

Week 7 (March 18-24): Raven Chavanne – Tennessee – Senior – Utility – Thousand Oaks, Calif.

 

About ASA The Amateur Softball Association, founded in 1933, is the National Governing Body of softball in the United States and a member of the United States Olympic Committee. The ASA has become one of the nation’s largest sports organizations and now sanctions competition in every state through a network of 76 local associations. The ASA has grown from a few hundred teams in the early days to over 210,000 teams today, representing a membership of more than three million. For more information on the ASA, visit http://www.asasoftball.com/.
About USA Softball USA Softball is the brand created, operated and owned by the ASA that links the USA Men’s, Women’s, Junior Boys’ and Junior Girls’ National Team programs together. USA Softball is responsible for training, equipping and promoting these four National Teams to compete in international and domestic competitions. The USA Softball Women’s National Team is one of the only two women’s sports involved in the Olympic movement to capture three consecutive gold medals at the Olympic Games since 1996. The U.S. women have also won nine World Championship titles including the last seven consecutive as well as claimed six World Cup of Softball titles. For more information about USA Softball, please visit http://www.usasoftball.com/.
About the NCAA Women’s College World Series The ASA Hall of Fame Stadium serves as the home to the NCAA Women’s College World Series (WCWS). For the 23rd year, the top eight college teams in the nation will head to Oklahoma City and complete for a National Championship title. Last year, over 75,000 fans attended the WCWS. Experience It Live May 30 to June 5 in Oklahoma City. Tickets for the 2013 NCAA WCWS are on sale now, click here to purchase your tickets and make a date with champions!

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------  Steven Embree | ASA/USA Softball

Assistant Director of Marketing and Communications 2801 NE 50th | Oklahoma City, OK 73111 Work: 405-425-3422 | Cell: 405-207-1004 E-mail: sembree@softball.org | Web: www.usasoftball.com