BROOKLYN, N.Y. -- As the NEC Championships approach, the LIU Brooklyn softball team picked up a trio of awards as the regular season came to a close with the Blackbirds (33-16, 14-2) atop the standings. Sophomore shortstop Kiana Cisneros was named Player of the Week for the first time in her career, freshman Elena Valenzuela was named Co-Pitcher of the Week for the fifth time this season and freshman Camryn Lyman earned Rookie of the Week honors for the second consecutive period. This final week marks the fourth consecutive time a Blackbird was named both Player of the Week and Rookie of the Week from the Conference.
Cisneros, who hails from Santa Margarita, Calif., had her best day of the season in a doubleheader sweep of Bryant, going 6-for-6 with three RBIs and two runs scored to boost her batting average to a season high .359. She has also extended her season long hitting streak to 12 games after going 9-for-17 on the week (.529) with a double, a triple, four runs scored and four batted in. Back to Saturday against the Bulldogs, Cisneros' RBI single tied up game one in the third inning, in a 2-1 win. Then in game two, she hit a triple to score a pair of runs in the first to start things off, and scored a pair of runs in the 9-1 win. She also had an RBI single in the first inning of game two on Friday, a 6-4 win over Central. In four NEC games last week, Cisneros hit a whopping .667.
Valenzuela moved to 17-3 on the season with a pair of seven inning complete game wins over the weekend for the regular season champs. In 14 innings against CCSU and Bryant, the Whitter, Calif. native yielded only five hits, three walks and one earned run for a 0.50 ERA and a .104 batting average against. The one run came on a solo homer to Bryant as she notched her conference high 15th complete game and lowered her conference leading earned run average to 2.00 on the nose. With her 7.0 scoreless frames on Saturday, she collected her league-leading seventh shutout of the season as well.
Lyman continues to rake for the Blackbirds with 3 three-hit games last week in a 4-1 week, going .526 (10-for-19) for the period. She had three hits including an RBI double in a 7-5 extra inning loss to Rutgers, then she was 3-for-4 in LIU's 6-4 win over Central Connecticut on Friday. On Saturday, the native of Chino Hills, Calif., went 3-for-3 in game two vs. Bryant to close out the regular season undefeated at home this year, with Blackbirds going 11-0 in Brooklyn to date.
The Blackbirds are set to host the Northeast Conference Championships, this Thursday through Saturday (May 9-11) at LIU Field. As the top seed, LIU will face No. 4 Mount St. Mary's (9-7 NEC) on Thursday at 12:00 p.m. in the opening game of the tournament.