May 5, 2008
2008 Big Ten Softball Tournament Bracket in PDF Format
IOWA CITY – Sophomore Katie Brown has been named co-Big Ten Player of the Week, sharing the honor with Northwestern’s Nicole Pauly. This is the first weekly accolade for Brown.
Brown powered Iowa’s offense in the two-game sweep over Illinois last weekend. The Spirit Lake, IA, native finished the weekend with a .833 (5-6) batting average along with three home runs, one double, six RBI, one intentional walk and four runs scored. Brown also tallied an impressive 2.500 slugging percentage and a .857 on-base percentage.
Brown started the weekend by going 2-3 with a solo home run and a double in Iowa’s 5-2 win over Illinois Saturday. She gave Iowa its first run of the game with a solo shot to right field and drove in the fourth Hawkeye run with a double in the sixth inning.
Sunday was a career day for Brown, going a perfect 3-3 with career highs in home runs (2), RBI (4) and runs scored (3). She smacked a solo home run to the deepest part of center field in the fourth inning to give Iowa a 3-0 lead. After Illinois knotted the score at four later in the game, Brown delivered a three-run home run to right field to help Iowa regain the lead for good at 7-4.
Brown also played a perfect seven innings at first base in game two, recording seven putouts with no errors.
Brown and the Hawkeyes are the No. 3 seed in the upcoming Big Ten Tournament and will face No. 6 seed Illinois Friday at 9 a.m. The game will be televised live on the Big Ten Network.