NEWPORT NEWS, Va.— The Atlantic 10 Conference has named Saint Louis sophomore Mackenzie Peter the Softball Player of the Week and Fordham redshirt junior Rachel Gillen its Pitcher of the Week. Dayton freshman Jaclyn Kweder also earned Rookie of the Week honors. The awards, the first of the season, were for games played Feb. 2 – 8.

Peter, a right fielder from St. Peter’s, Mo., led the Billikens to three wins in the opening weekend of play. She led SLU in batting average (.500), hits (8), RBIs (6), and slugging percentage (.812) at Mississippi State's Bulldog Kickoff Classic. In two games versus SEC Mississippi State, she was 3-for-6 with a double and a two-run home run. She also had a 3-for-5 outing in a win over Middle Tennessee State.

Gillen started two of three games she played in the circle and went 2-1 with a 0.76 ERA to go along with 20 strikeouts and four walks while scattering 14 hits in 18.1 innings. The southpaw from Wilmington, Del., was summoned into relief against Pacific with two outs in the top of the first with the Rams trailing 3-0. She allowed no runs, just three hits, walked two and whiffed eight to help Fordham rally for a 4-3 win. She ended the weekend with a complete-game shutout in the Rams win over Portland State. Gillen scattered five hits, walked one and struck out seven.

Kweder had a solid collegiate start when she went 6-for-12 over four games in the Flyers’ season-opening weekend. An outfielder from Carmel, Ind., she had one double and two RBIs. She batted .500 for the week, collecting six hits with a .583 slugging percentage and .500 on base percentage. Her best games were both 2-for-3 outings, including the game at Kennesaw State where she hit a double and recorded and pair of RBIs. She also was 2-of-3 in a win over Tennessee Tech with a stolen base.