A pair of St. John’s University softball players received major weekly honors from the BIG EAST Conference following their team’s 3-2 performance at the Stetson Invitational in DeLand, Florida. The conference announced on Monday that Jess Bianco was named BIG EAST Player of the Week and Loreley Francia was selected as BIG EAST Pitcher of the Week.
Bianco earned her second career Player of the Week award, with her previous recognition coming on February 24, 2025. Francia picked up her sixth career Pitcher of the Week honor and her first for the 2026 season; she last received this distinction on May 5, 2025.
During the tournament in Florida, Bianco led St. John’s offensively by hitting .421, scoring six runs, and driving in two runs. She also stole three bases during the week, surpassing 100 career stolen bases to set an active program record at 101. The Cherry Hill, New Jersey native recorded two hits and at least one run scored in four out of five games played by St. John’s at the event. As of February 22, Bianco leads her team in hits (26), batting average (.491), and is tied for most runs scored (11).
Francia finished with a 2-0 record at the invitational while posting a 1.40 ERA over 15 innings pitched. She struck out a total of 13 batters across appearances against Columbia and Stetson and threw a complete-game shutout in a 3-0 win over Columbia on February 20.
The awards for Bianco and Francia represent St. John’s fifth and sixth appearances on this year’s BIG EAST Weekly Awards list. Earlier recognitions include Ana Serafinko and Natasha Limbani being named to the Weekly Honor Roll on February 9; Serafinko also claimed Pitcher of the Week honors on February 16, while Cassidy Stouffer earned her first career Honor Roll placement that same day.
St. John’s will next compete at ECU’s Battle at the Max tournament from February 27 through March 1 in Greenville, North Carolina where they are scheduled to play ECU twice, Campbell twice, and Rider once.
