ROSEMONT, Ill. – Penn State softball senior shortstop Kaitlyn Morrison picked up her first career Big Ten Conference weekly accolade Monday afternoon, landing Player of the Week distinction in the league office's release. Morrison collected Penn State's third conference weekly honor in four weeks of competition.
Through four games at the 2024 Longhorn Invitational, Morrison has already turned in an impressive weekend of performances. The South Park, Pennsylvania, native boasts a .600 batting average through her first four games in the Lone Star State, cranking a trio of extra-base hits while logging five RBI. Morrison has helped anchor a Nittany Lion lineup that has collectively hit .336 through four-of-five games in Austin, winning all four of their neutral site opportunities before squaring off against No. 2 Texas in a nationally televised matchup Monday night.
Morrison has helped guide the Nittany Lions to their best start through 16 games in program history, leading all Big Ten Conference member institutions with a 15-1 overall record and a .938 winning percentage. PSU's veteran shortstop recorded a walk-off RBI hit Sunday afternoon to propel PSU to a 3-2 victory over Northwestern State, the third walk-off hit for the Blue & White in 2024. She continued her reign of dominance in the final game of the weekend against Tarleton, finishing 1-for-2 with a pair of walks and two runs scored in the 11-8 victory.
Penn State's veteran shortstop leads all qualified Nittany Lions in batting average with a .374 mark at the plate, also booking a 1.174 OPS through 16 starts. Morrison ranks sixth in the conference in on-base percentage with a .500 clip and is also tied for seventh among Big Ten student-athletes with five doubles on the year. Morrison has been instrumental in Penn State's current seven-game winning streak, batting at an astonishing .529 rate over the last seven contests dating to PSU's 5-2 win over Morgan State in the first half of a doubleheader on February 24.
Morrison is the 16th recipient of the Big Ten Player of the Week award in Penn State program history, becoming just the third Nittany Lion to earn that recognition since 2015. Morrison joins a pair of former teammates in 2022 recipient Ally Kurland and 2023 recipient Lexie Black as the PSU student-athletes to earn B1G Player of the Week status under the direction of fourth-year head coach Clarisa Crowell. Morrison becomes PSU's second B1G Weekly Award winner in 2024, joining freshman pitcher Bridget Nemeth, who has picked up Pitcher of the Week and Freshman of the Week accolades on February 12 and February 26, respectively.
The Nittany Lions continue their spring break sojourn through the Lone Star State of Texas later Monday night, as the Blue & White square off against the unanimous No. 2 team in the nation, the Texas Longhorns, in a 6 p.m. (ET) matchup from Red & Charline McCombs Field. The game will air to a national television audience via the Longhorn Network and stream via the ESPN app. PSU continues its week of work with four games in three days at Baylor and Texas State beginning on Wednesday, March 6.
FOLLOW THE NITTANY LIONS
Visit GoPSUSports.com for more information on Penn State softball. Fans can keep up to date with the Nittany Lion softball team on Facebook at /pennstatesoftball as well as Twitter and Instagram @PennStateSB.
