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Rocky Hill, Conn. native went 3-0 and did not allow a run in 24 innings last week
EASTON, Mass. (April 27, 2015) – Stonehill College junior Megan Ruonavaara (Rocky Hill, Connecticut/Rocky Hill) has been named the Northeast-10 Conference Pitcher of the Week for softball, the league office announced today.
Ruonavaara earns this honor for the first time in her career following a week in which she went 3-0 in four appearances (three starts) and did not allow a single run over her 24 innings in the circle. The junior held opponents to a .159 batting average and 13 hits while striking out six and walking four.
Ruonavaara's first start of the week came on Tuesday in Stonehill's 1-0 victory over Assumption. She posted a five-hit shutout, retiring the Greyhounds in order in three of the seven innings and facing the minimum of three batters in five frames.
The Rocky Hill, Connecticut native followed that effort up with a three-hit shutout on Thursday as Stonehill edged Bentley University 1-0, before posting her another three-hit blanking in a 5-0 win over Franklin Pierce University on Saturday. Ruonavaara made her fourth and final appearance of the week in game two of Stonehill's doubleheader against the Ravens on Saturday, tossing three scoreless innings of relief in a 3-2 loss.
She also made an impact at the plate last week, hitting her third and fourth home runs of the season while drawing a walk and driving in four runs.
Ruonavaara has made 14 appearances and ten starts in the circle this spring, compiling a 2.33 earned run average and a record of 7-2. She has tallied 31 strikeouts and given up 28 runs (23 earned) on 67 hits in 69.0 innings of work. Offensively, the junior is hitting .228 (21-for-92) with four doubles, four home runs and 11 RBI.
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A 2013 NE-10 All-Rookie Team selection as a pitcher, Ruonavaara earned All-NE-10 first team honors last season as a designated player after hitting .342 with seven home runs and 29 RBI.
Off the field, Ruonavaara represents the softball team on Stonehill's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) and has earned the past two Saint Thomas Aquinas medals for posting the highest grade point average on the team. Additionally, she garnered both Capital One Academic All-District and NE-10 Academic All-Conference honors last spring, and has been named to both the NE-10 Commissioner's Honor Roll and Athletic Director's Honor Roll all five semesters.
A 2012 graduate of Rocky Hill High School, Ruonavaara earned All-Central Connecticut Conference honors all four years, and All-State accolades as a sophomore and senior. She was also named Player of the Year by both the Hartford Courant and New Haven Register following her senior campaign.
Stonehill (20-14, 13-8 NE-10), which finished the regular season in second place in the NE-10 Northeast Division and secured a first round bye for the NE-10 Tournament, will take on the winner of the Southern Connecticut State University/Le Moyne College matchup on the campus of Southern New Hampshire University on Thursday.
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