This week’s Genesis Co-Player of the Week is Abby Andersen.

Andersen is a junior outfielder on the Nicholls State University softball team positioned in the grass area behind the dirt diamond and the fences at the back of the field.

Andersen won this award after last week’s seven game stretch in which she recorded eight hits, seven runs, and six RBIs. She helped the Colonels to a 4-1 record last weekend.

From Mesa, Arizona, Andersen played her four years of high school softball at Hamilton High School while playing travel softball for the Oro Valley Suncats.

At Hamilton, Andersen won consecutive state Division 1 championships in 2016 and 2017.

After her high school and travel softball career ended, she decided to join the Arizona State University Sundevils’ softball team in nearby Tempe, Arizona.

At Arizona State, Andersen started 15 games at pitcher in 2019 and was awarded 10 wins in addition to one save.

Andersen also earned her bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary studies with concentrations in personal health and sociology at Arizona State.

After three years at Arizona State, Andersen decided it was time for a change of scenery and change of pace as she decided to transfer to Nicholls to play softball and further her education.

“The values and the morals of the program[Nicholls] were good,” Andersen said. “When I met the coaches and the players I knew it was the right play for me.”

Andersen said that the Nicholls community had a small town feel which helped persuade her to move to Thibodaux.

While at Nicholls, Andersen is studying nursing and says she wants to be an emergency room nurse.

“I like being on the spot and having to help in urgent situations,” Andersen said. “In the long term, I want to get my master’s [degree] and go into medical aesthetics.”

After a couple of years out of the game, partially due to the NCAA cancellations because of COVID, Andersen said she was able pick up on things at Nicholls that helped her and the team thrive.

Andersen and the Colonels matchup against Yale in the Black and Gold Invitational in Hattiesburg, Miss. in their next game on Friday, Feb. 24.