Gossen of Nicholls, Tate of McNeese take Southland Softball Player of the Week honors

FRISCO, Texas – League home run leader Melise Gossen of Nicholls is the Hitter of the Week and McNeese’s Whitney Tate shut out a top 15 team to win Pitcher of the Week as the Southland Softball Player of the Week awards for the third week of the 2023 season were announced Monday by the conference office.

Hitter of the Week: Melise Gossen, Nicholls – Sr. – INF – Rayne, La. (Notre Dame)
Gossen continued her stellar senior season, posting a .444 batting average with three homers and 13 RBIs to lead the Colonels to a 5-2 record this week. She homered in each contest against Yale and smashed a 3-run shot in a run-rule win over Alcorn. Five of her eight hits went for extra bases as she also posted two doubles. After the first three weeks, Gossen is first in the Southland in home runs, slugging and RBIs.

Pitcher of the Week: Whitney Tate, McNeese – Sr. – RHP – Columbia, La. (Caldwell Parish HS)
Tate appeared in four games last week and produced a 1-0 record with her complete game win coming against then No. 12 Washington. For the week, Tate hurled 23.0 innings with 11 strikeouts, one walk and a 2.13 ERA.

2023 Southland Softball Players of the Week
Date Hitter of the Week / Pitcher of the Week
Feb. 13 Lexi Johnson, Southeastern / Cera Blanchard, Southeastern
Feb. 20 Lexi Johnson, Southeastern (2) / Maggie Darr, Northwestern State
Feb. 27 Melise Gossen, Nicholls / Whitney Tate, McNeese

Southland weekly award winners are nominated and voted upon by each school’s sports information director. Voting for one’s own athlete is not permitted. To earn honorable mention, a student-athlete must appear on 25 percent of ballots.