On Saturday, College of Staten Island freshman Patricia Riches broke the single game record for RBI and matches another for home runs. Three days later, she did something else for the first time, winning the school’s first-ever Fastpitch News Division III national Player of the Week honor, joining King’s College’s Samantha Bloom as the recipients this week.
The award for Riches comes on the heels of the CUNYAC Rookie of the Week honor just yesterday. The first year player has had an unreal start to the year. In CSI’s only two games last week, a doubleheader against Lehman, she batted .857 with a slugging percentage or 2.286. She broke the school record with seven RBI in the second game, when she went 4-4 with two home runs, which also tied a single-game school record. She had a grand slam in the first game as well, giving her 12 total RBI last week.
For the season, Riches is batting .656 (21-32) with a team-best 16 RBI. She has four doubles and three homers, giving her a slugging percentage of 1.063. Riches is also in the running for an NFCA and ECAC Metro honor this week as well.
