The NESCAC has released its final Players of the Week for the week of the 2024-25 academic year. The conference recognizes student-athletes for each sport based on their contributions to their team each week. This week's release includes the Player of the Week selections for baseball and softball.
 
Baseball
Player of the Week
Brayden Mathews - Middlebury - Jr. - IF - San Francisco, Calif.
Mathews was a key contributor on both sides to help propel the Panthers to their second consecutive NESCAC title and third NESCAC Championship in the last four seasons. The junior led Middlebury with a .556 batting average and a .643 on-base percentage over three contests, tallying five hits and five runs batted in. In the NESCAC Semifinals against Williams, the infielder launched his first-career home run over the left field wall to give the team a 2-0 lead it would never surrender. Mathews picked up where he left off in Sunday's championship, reaching base safely three times and tallying two RBI to push the Panthers to their fourth conference crown. The infielder also tallied seven putouts and six assists defensively for a 1.000 fielding percentage on the weekend.

Pitcher of the Week
Dylan Knightly - Middlebury - Jr. - P - Dedham, Mass.
Knightly excelled on the mound for Middlebury over NESCAC Championship weekend. The junior tallied a 2-0 mark over two appearances with 5.1 innings of no-hit baseball alongside five strikeouts. In the conference championship game against Williams, Knightly came in at the top of the seventh and kept the Ephs off the board with a 1-2-3 inning. After the Panther offense gave the reliever the lead in the bottom half, Knightly cruised with back-to-back 1-2-3 performances in the eighth and ninth to clinch the 10-6 victory and the fourth conference championship in program history.

Softball
Player of the Week
Kaitlyn Perucci - Tufts - Jr. - 1B - Coto de Caza, Calif.
Perucci's three-run home run in the top of the fourth of the championship game against Wesleyan turned the game around, changing a 3-2 deficit into a 5-3 lead. For Tufts' three games in the NESCAC Tournament, the junior hit .556 with five runs scored, four RBI, a triple, the home run, and two walks. Perucci had singled and scored to help Tufts overcome a 2-0 deficit in the third inning against Colby in the semifinal on Sunday. In the quarterfinal against Amherst on Friday - an 8-0, five-inning victory - she was 3-for-3 with three runs scored including a triple and an RBI single.

Pitcher of the Week
Lacy Chilek - Tufts - Sr. - P - Montgomery, Texas
Chilek was outstanding in relief in two games on Sunday helping Tufts win the NESCAC Championship. Against Colby in the semifinals, she entered in the top of the fifth with two on and two out as Tufts was holding on to a 6-4 lead. The senior got a fly out to end the fifth, then pitched a 1-2-3 sixth inning. In the seventh, a Tufts error brought the potential tying run to the plate for Colby, but Chilek forced a pop-up and got the final out by strikeout to earn a save in Tufts' win. In 2.1 innings she did not allow a hit or a run while striking out two with no walks. In the championship game versus Wesleyan University, she entered with Tufts trailing 2-1 and two on and no out in the bottom of the third. After getting the first out, which allowed an inherited runner to score making it 3-1 Wesleyan, she retired the next two hitters to limit the Cardinals' rally. Tufts took the lead in the top of the fourth and added to it in the fifth (8-3) while Chilek was throwing a 1-2-3 fourth and stranding two runners on base in the fifth. She then pitched 1-2-3 innings in the sixth and seventh to deliver the title to Tufts while earning the pitching victory and finishing with five innings pitched, allowing one hit and zero runs. For the two games, Chilek had a win and a save, and in 7.1 innings allowed just one hit and no runs with three strikeouts.