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SA Stars of the Week: Acton, Harrison, Jensen, Atwood

by: Softball America Staff03/31/26

The Softball America staff will pick four student-athletes as our college softball players of the week following the latest slate of games. Our award system isn’t necessarily stat-based; rather, it’s for players who left a lasting impact as we watched games from the previous week. This season, we are doing it a little differently, highlighting a player, a pitcher, a freshman, and a defender.

Player of the Week: Brynn Acton, UNI

What a week for the freshman. Acton came into the week with 19 career RBIs. She had 15 over the past four games. She hit her first homer of the week in the midweek win over Illinois, but it wasn’t her last. Acton hit a blast in every game of the series against Illinois State, saving her best for last. She hit three home runs and drove in eight runs in the 24-16 rubber match win. Acton ended the week 8-19 with six home runs and 15 RBIs.

Pitcher of the Week: Ryley Harrison, South Alabama

Harrison pitched 16 innings this past week without yielding an earned run. She tossed a complete-game shutout with nine strikeouts against JMU in the series opener. Harrison was called upon to throw the final three innings of both Saturday and Sunday games, picking up a pair of saves.

Freshma of the Week: Alexis Jensen, Nebraska

The two-way stood tall for the Cornhuskers in their Top-10 showdown with UCLA. Jensen earned the starts and wins in both victories over the Bruins. In her two outings, she threw a combined 11 innings, holding the fantastic UCLA offense to five runs and limiting the damage from superstars Megan Grant and Jordan Woolery. Oh, and she blasted a two-run homer in the rubber match to give Nebraska the lead.

Defender of the Week: Reese Atwood, Texas

Atwood caught everyone’s attention with her no-look pick off of Kelsey Mathis at third base, which was more than style points when you win a game by one run in the end. Atwood controlled the running game, even throwing out Kennedy Powell, who had not been caught stealing in her last 42 attempts before Atwood threw her out.

In total, Atwood had two putouts, three assists, two caught stealing, didn’t allow a successful stolen base attempt, one pickoff, and a perfect fielding percentage and zero passed balls. She also hit three home runs during the week, the go-ahead blast against Texas A&M on Saturday and the game-tying homer against Texas State in the midweek.

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