Each week, our college softball insider Maren Angus brings you up to date with what matters most in and around the SEC.

Arkansas’ Taylor Ellsworth off to a career-best start

Arkansas graduate transfer Taylor Ellsworth went 7-for-15 with 2 homers, 4 doubles and 9 RBIs over the weekend.

Her numbers continue to stand out in the Razorbacks’ lineup. Through 18 games, she is 23-for-52 (.442) with 10 doubles, 20 RBIs, 18 runs scored, .808 slugging percentage and .532 on-base percentage.

In her 5 seasons at Texas, Ellsworth’s best season was in 2017 as a freshman. She had a team-high .508 slugging percentage and tied for the team-lead in RBIs with 24.

Mizzou dominates home-opening weekend in CoMo

Missouri hit a program-record 7 home runs in a 5-inning, 11-2 win over St. Thomas on Saturday. In total, the Tigers hit 14 homers by 9 players in 4 games.

Laurin Krings tossed the 12th perfect game in program history against Bradley with 12 strikeouts.

Kara Daly homered in all 4 games and finished the weekend with 9 RBIs and an SEC Freshman of the Week honor.

Casidy Chaumont extended her hitting streak to 9 games after going 7-for-10 with 3 doubles, a home run and 9 RBIs.

Virginia Tech sweeps Clemson in top-10 ranked series

Keely Rochard (8-2) proved why she is one of the best pitchers in the country as she led the Hokies with 2 wins against the Tigers. She didn’t allow an earned run in 11 2/3 innings, struck out 17 and surrendered only 6 hits.

Freshman Emma Lemley secured a complete-game shutout Saturday with 10 strikeouts and 3 hits.

Offensively, VT produced clutch hitting throughout the lineup. Jayme Bailey hit a grand slam on Friday en route to a 6-1 win, Kelsey Bennett went 3-for-3 with 3 RBIs on Saturday in a 4-0 win, and Morgan Overaitis launched a pinch-hit 3-run home run on Sunday in a 4-2 win.

Overall, a solid weekend from the Hokies after a midweek loss to then-unranked Charlotte.

Jocelyn Alo still chasing home run No. 96

The Oklahoma Sooners hosted Minnesota on Monday after having the weekend off and it appears that no one wants to pitch to Jocelyn Alo.

Alo is tied with former Sooner Lauren Chamberlain for the NCAA softball career home run record with 95.

She has walked 13 times in the past 6 games and on Monday, she walked in all 3 at-bats.

Oklahoma heads to Hawaii to play 4 games beginning Thursday against Baylor. It will also be the first time Alo plays in her home state as a member of the Sooners.

Alabama remains undefeated as Montana Fouts shines

Montana Fouts won 4 games in 3 days for the Crimson Tide at the T-Mobile Crimson Classic to help Alabama remain undefeated (20-0).

Fouts made 2 starts had 2 relief appearances with Lexi Kilfoyl out with an injury. Fouts surrendered 3 earned runs in just over 17 innings, with all 3 in the form of 2 Texas home runs.

She struck out 26, allowed 14 hits, walked 4 and threw 293 pitches.

Megan Bloodworth hit her team-leading 5th home run while Kaylee Tow and Dallis Goodnight each extending their on-base streaks to 17 and 13 games, respectively.

Georgina Corrick has record-setting weekend for South Florida

What a week for Georgina Corrick. On Wednesday, she broke the USF single-game strikeout record with 19 and claimed the career shutout record with her 38th.

On Saturday, she surpassed 1,000 career strikeouts with a 12-strikeout performance. To finish the weekend on Sunday, she achieved perfection for the first time in her career and 4th in Bulls program history.

Her ERA dropped to a microscopic 0.08. She has only allowed 1 earned run in 87 1/3 innings and is in the middle of a 57 2/3 scoreless inning streak.

Charlotte 49ers roll into Top 25

The week began with the biggest win in program history against No. 6 Virginia Tech.

Now, the 18-3 49ers are seeing the accolades roll in. Freshman Ella Chancey was named Conference-USA Player of the Week and graduate Amelia Wiercioch was named Pitcher of the Week.

Chancey went 7-for-15 with 3 home runs and 8 RBIs. Her home runs came in 3 consecutive games. This season, she has started 20 games with a .400 average, 14 runs scored and 17 RBIs.

Wiercioch earned the win against No. 6 Virginia Tech. She gave up 2 runs in the first inning and then settled in for 3 scoreless innings. She also picked up a complete-game win against Maryland and picked up a save against Boston College.

Charlotte enters this week ranked No. 24 by D1 Softball and is No. 8 in RPI.

https://twitter.com/USFSoftball/status/1500566268696481794

Corrine Badger claims Stony Brook’s first National Player of the Week honor

Junior Corinne Badger went 6-for-12 with 6 home runs and 11 RBIs last week. She went 4-for-4 with 4 home runs in her first 4 at-bats.

She is the second player in program history to earn national honors since Dawn Bodrug won National Pitcher of the Week honors in March 2021.