Valparaiso sophomore outfielder Kaitlyn Ranieri (Schererville, Ind./Lake Central) has been named the Horizon League Player of the Week after capping another stellar week at the plate with a walk-off double on Sunday to give the Crusaders the series win over Cleveland State.

Ranieri kicked off the week by going 4-for-8 in a doubleheader sweep of Northern Illinois, including a 3-for-4, 2-R, 2-RBI performance in the opener.  The sophomore then went 4-for-7 in a split of Saturday’s twinbill versus the Vikings before going 3-for-5 in the series finale.  In that game, Ranieri drove in the go-ahead run in the bottom of the sixth, and then with the game in extra innings, earned the walk-off win for the Crusaders with a double to the left-center gap.

On the week, Ranieri went 11-of-20 at the plate, good for a .550 batting average, with three runs scored and five RBIs.  Her trio of multi-hit games against CSU now gives her eight multi-hit games in 10 Horizon League contests, while the sophomore leads the league in a number of offensive categories in league-only play, including batting average (.606), RBIs (15) and slugging percentage (1.121).

Ranieri and the Crusaders return to action Friday with the opening game of a three-game Horizon League set against Oakland, at home at 3 p.m.