Perfect Game Earns SEC Weekly Honors for Sydney Littlejohn

A historic perfect game on Sunday for sophomore Sydney Littlejohn has earned recognition from the Southeastern Conference, as she has been named the SEC Pitcher of the Week.

The Rusk, Texas native threw her second perfect game of the season on Sunday against Ole Miss as she became the first player in program history to throw multiple perfect games. Her first came earlier this season on Feb. 6 against Eastern Kentucky at the Sand Dollar Classic in Gulf Shores, Ala. Prior to this year, the only perfect game in program history was thrown by current Alabama pitching coach Stephanie VanBrakle on April 1, 2006 at Kentucky. Sunday’s perfect game was the first thrown by an Alabama pitcher at Rhoads Stadium.

Littlejohn is also just the third pitcher at Alabama to throw multiple no-hitters in the same season, joining VanBrakle and Kelsi Dunne. VanBrakle threw two no-hitters in 2004 and three in 2006, while Dunne threw three in both 2009 and 2011.

This marks Littlejohn’s second SEC Pitcher of the Week award so far this season, as she won the first award this season following her first perfect game. Jaclyn Traina was the last Crimson Tide pitcher to earn multiple SEC weekly awards, winning three times in 2012. This is Alabama’s third overall SEC award this season, as Haylie McCleney was named Player of the Week on Feb. 16 after a strong weekend at the Stanford Nike Invitational. This is Littlejohn’s third career SEC weekly award, as she was named SEC Freshman of the Week last season after clinching an SEC Championship for Alabama on the road against Missouri in the final week of the regular season.

So far this season, Littlejohn owns an 8-0 record over nine appearances including five complete games and four shutouts. She leads the team with a 0.92 ERA, allowing just six earned runs over 45.2 innings, while striking out 41.

Auburn junior Emily Carosone was named SEC Player of the Week while Tennessee freshman Meghan Gregg was named Freshman of the Week.

This week, Alabama will host UAB (18-5) in a midweek contest at Rhoads Stadium on Tuesday, March 10 with first pitch set for 6 p.m. CT. Following that, the Tide will head to Athens, Ga., for a three-game series against the Georgia Bulldogs (21-3) starting on Friday, March 13.