NEW ORLEANS | Senior pitcher Jenna Hardy was named the Sun Belt Conference Pitcher of the Week on Tuesday after helping South Alabama open Sun Belt Conference play with a three-game sweep of Georgia State over the weekend.

The honor is the second time of her career and the 32nd time the program has had a pitcher earn the award. She was also named the league's pitcher of the week last season after South's SBC opening sweep of UT Arlington.

Hardy came up big in the circle for South Alabama in its three-game sweep of Georgia State as she picked up a pair of wins. For the series, Hardy struck out 11 in her 12 innings of work, and allowed just two earned runs to give the senior a 1.17 earned run average.

Hardy picked up her first win of the weekend in game two of the series on Saturday as she went the distance in the circle for the Jags. The Whitehouse, Ohio, native came up huge on Sunday in the series finale as she entered the game with South Alabama trailing 5-2 after two innings. She retired the side in order in the top half of the third, and her offense responded with a seven-run outburst in the bottom half of the frame. 

Hardy improved to 10-5 on the spring and picked up the win in relief tossing five innings of scoreless, three-hit ball, striking out six and lowering her ERA to 1.46. 

South Alabama will begin a four-game road swing later today at Nicholls. First pitch versus the Colonels is set for 5 p.m. at Swanner Field.

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