After going 4-1 last week in Missouri Valley Conference play, the Valpo softball team picked up a pair of MVC weekly honors. Erin Metz (Wheaton, Ill./Wheaton North) was named the MVC Pitcher of the Week, while Azalya Lopez (Corona, Calif./Eleanor Roosevelt [MSU Moorhead]) received MVC Newcomer of the Week accolades for the second time this season.
 
Metz earned the win in each of Valpo's four victories last week, becoming the first Valpo pitcher to pick up the win in four consecutive games since 2008. She went 4-0 with a 1.34 ERA in her five appearances, surrendering just three runs in 15.2 innings of work. Metz recorded the win in both halves of the Beacons' Tuesday twinbill at UIC, giving up just one run in six innings over the two victories, and then did the same in Valpo's Saturday doubleheader at Bradley, giving up just one run in seven innings. In the series opener against the Braves, Metz started and tossed four innings of shutout ball as part of a combined one-hitter in the 1-0 win.
 
Lopez recorded the save in three of Valpo's four victories last week, posting a 2.10 ERA and a .216 batting average against along with 10 strikeouts in 13.1 innings of work for the week. In the Beacons' four wins, Lopez surrendered just one earned run in 10 innings in the circle. Her week was highlighted by a three-inning hitless stint out of the bullpen in the series opener at Bradley, finishing off a combined one-hitter in a 1-0 win. At the plate, Lopez delivered an RBI in each of her first two plate appearances in the middle game of the Bradley series to stake Valpo to a lead it would not relinquish.
 
The duo's efforts helped Valpo to its longest conference winning streak since 2018 and the program's longest conference road winning streak since 2017. Metz, Lopez and the Beacons are back in action Tuesday afternoon at the Valpo Softball Complex against UIC at 3 p.m.