May 12, 2009
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- Big Ten Network: Free Hawkeye Video
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- Iowa Softball wallpaper
- SoftBlog
IOWA CITY – On Deck ? The University of Iowa softball team will compete in the NCAA Division I softball tournament this weekend. The Hawkeyes will play in the Atlanta Region, along with No. 14 national seed and host-school Georgia Tech, Auburn and Boston University.
Iowa opens NCAA Regional play Friday against Auburn at 4 p.m. (CT). Georgia Tech and Boston follow with a 6:30 p.m. (CT) first pitch.
Friday’s winning teams will face off at noon Saturday, while the losing teams will play the first elimination game Saturday at 2:30 p.m. The loser of Saturday’s first game and the winner of the second contest will then play the second elimination game at 5 p.m. Saturday.
The Regional Final will be played Sunday at noon, with the “if necessary” game to follow at 2:30 p.m.
Hawkeyes on the Web ? Gametracker links for all NCAA Tournament games can be found on hawkeyesports.com. The links can be accessed under the schedule tab on the home page or on the softball schedule page.
All NCAA Tournament games will be broadcast over the internet at hawkeyesports.com (for a fee). The “Listen” links can be found next to the Gametracker links. Rob Brooks is in his third season as the voice of Iowa softball.
NCAA Tournament Notes ? Iowa is 31-31 in NCAA Tournament games, including a 26-23 mark in NCAA Regional contests. This marks the ninth time in the last 10 seasons the Hawkeyes have competed in the NCAA Tournament, and the 16th time overall.
? The Hawkeyes have advanced to the Women’s College World Series four times (1995, 1996, 1997, 2001).
? Iowa recorded a 12-9 record against teams that were selected for the NCAA Tournament this season. Iowa picked up wins over Purdue (twice), Miami, OH, Texas, Tennessee-Chattanooga, Cornell (twice), Ohio State, Cal State Fullerton, Illinois (twice) and Long Beach State. Iowa’s losses include Florida State, Michigan (twice), Northwestern (twice), Texas, Ohio State, Arizona State and UCLA. In addition, Iowa played against six of the 16 national seeds in this year’s tournament, collecting a 1-7 record against those teams (No. 2 UCLA, No. 3 Michigan, No. 10 Arizona State, No. 11 Ohio State, No. 12 Northwestern, No. 16 Florida State).
? Iowa is 2-1 all-time vs. Auburn, 1-1 vs. Boston and 0-2 vs. Georiga Tech. The teams have never faced each other in NCAA Tournament play.
? Georgia Tech’s home facility, Shirley Clements Newborn Field, was just built for the 2009 season. The state-of-the-art, $5 million stadium was officially dedicated March 10, 2009.
? The Hawkeyes own a 5-0 record this season when playing in the state of Georgia. Iowa shut out all five opponents at the K-Club Classic Feb. 20-22, hosted by Kennesaw State University. Iowa defeated Drexel (4-0), Memphis (8-0 in five innings), Miami, OH (5-0), Buffalo (4-0) and Kennesaw State (8-0 in five innings).
? Iowa played Auburn twice during the 2005 season, losing the first matchup 2-1, but winning game two 16-1 in five innings. In that second game, Iowa set school records for most home runs (7) and total bases (36), while Emily Nichols broke single game records for most home runs (3), RBI (8) and total bases (12). The Hawkeyes also defeated Auburn, 7-5 in eight innings during the 1997 season. ? Iowa lost to Georgia Tech, 6-0, in 2007 and 2-1, in 2002.
? The Hawkeyes defeated Boston, 4-0 in 2004, but lost to the Terriers, 7-5, during the 2007 season.
? Auburn Assistant Coach Steve Johnson has plenty of ties to the state of Iowa. Johnson is from West Des Moines and graduated from Wartburg College in 1997. He began his coaching career at the high school level at nearby Cedar Rapids Kennedy from 1999-2000. In addition, Johnson and current Hawkeye assistant Shane Bouman coached together at South Dakota State in 2002. Bouman was the head coach at SDSU, and Johnson was one of his assistants.
Scouting Auburn ? The Auburn Tigers are 29-27 overall and finished fourth in the Western Division of the SEC with a 9-19 mark. Auburn received an at-large big into the NCAA Tournament.
The Tigers are led by Myesha Finney, who is batting .324 with a team-best seven home runs and 24 RBI. Elizabeth Eisterh also has seven home runs. Kyndall White is second on the team with a .283 average and leads the team with 11 doubles.
Anna Thompson leads Auburn in the circle with a 2.16 ERA and 255 strikeouts. She is 14-15 this season. Jenee Loree is 12-10 with a 2.55 ERA and has 156 strikeouts.
Scouting Georgia Tech ? The No. 14 seed Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets are 43-13 overall and claimed the ACC regular season conference championship with a 17-3 mark. Georgia Tech also won the ACC Conference Tournament, gaining an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.
Jen Yee is batting .410 with 12 home runs and 38 RBI. Whitney Haller is batting .400 and also has 12 home runs along with a team-best 54 RBI. The Yellow Jackets have two players, Christy Jones and Blair Shimandle, who are 22-26 in stolen bases.
Kristen Adkins is 23-7 with a 1.53 ERA in 164.2 innings pitched. Tiffany Johnson is 14-3 with a 1.92 ERA and leads the Yellow Jacket staff with 138 K’s.
Scouting Boston ? The Boston Terriers are 41-16 overall and finished second in the America East Conference with a 14-6 mark. Boston won the America East Conference Tournament, grabbing an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
April Setterlund is batting .405 and is tied with Nora Militz for the team lead in home runs with seven. Melissa Dubay has driven in a team-best 39 runs, while Shayne Lotito is 36-39 in stolen bases. Dubay is also a threat to run, going 29-31 in stolen bases.
Cassidi Hardy is 25-5 with a 1.40 ERA and a team-high 171 strikeouts. Megan Currier is 10-9 with a 2.51 ERA an has 40 K’s.
Blevins in Second Place ? With Iowa’s 2-0 win over Minnesota May 9, Head Coach Gayle Blevins is now alone in second place on the NCAA softball all-time wins list.
Blevins, who recently picked up her 1,200th career win March 17 against Stetson, passed former Florida State Head Coach JoAnne Graf for second place with 1,219 wins. Graf retired after a 24-year career at Florida State, recording 1,218 victories.
Fresno State Head Coach Margie Wright is in first place with 1,343 wins.
Weil Gets K Record ? Senior Brittany Weil Weil shattered Iowa’s single season strikeout record May 9 against Minnesota.
Weil struck out the first two batters of the fourth inning to tie, and break, the single-season mark of 313 K’s set Lisa Birocci in 2004.
Weil currently has 328 strikeouts this season.
Tied For Three More ? Senior Brittany Weil, who threw two complete game shutouts against Minnesota May 9, is also tied for first place in career wins (99), complete games (109) and games pitched (181) at Iowa. Her two shutouts also put her in a tie for third in that career category at Iowa (40).
Weil Owns Career Mark ? Senior Brittany Weil became Iowa’s all-time strikeout leader April 4, when she struck out Penn State’s Christan Crivellaro with the bases loaded in the bottom of the second inning.
Weil, who struck out 11 batters in the record-breaking peformance, now has 1,032 career K’s.
One More on Weil ? Senior pitcher Brittany Weil has now thrown more innings than any other pitcher in Hawkeye history.
Weil, who has thrown 203.2 innings this season, holds Iowa’s career mark for innings pitched with 996.1.
Another No-No ? Senior Brittany Weil tossed yet another no-hitter against Wisconsin May 6, bringing her single-season and career total to five hitless games.
Weil now holds both the Iowa single-season and career record for hitless games, breaking former Hawkeye all-American Debbie Bilbao’s marks. Weil threw her first career no-hitter against Kent State (Feb. 13), her second at Kennesaw State (Feb. 22) and her first perfect game against Illinois (April 1). She followed with another no-hitter at Purdue (April 12), and her fifth of the season against Wisconsin (May 6).
Bilbao threw one no-hitter in 1995, a no-hitter and a perfect game in 1997 and a no-hitter in 1998.
Flare For the Dramatics ? Iowa has won four games this season in walk-off fashion.
Senior Sam Heinzman hit a sacrifice fly against Kent State (Feb. 13) to score the game-winning run in the bottom of the eighth. Freshman Liz Watkins hit a walk-off, solo home run in the bottom of the seventh against Illinois (April 1), and freshman Missy Mazur slapped a single through the left side against Michigan State (April 18) in the 10th inning.
The latest walkoff was against Wisconsin (May 6), when senior Colleen McGlaughlin gave Iowa a 5-4 win with a solo home run in the ninth inning.
Impressive Freshman ? Liz Watkins is closing in on two freshman records at Iowa.
Watkins is currently ranked second in home runs (9) and RBI (45) among freshman at Iowa. Emily Nichols holds both records with 16 home runs, which is also the Iowa single-season record, along with 49 RBI.
McGlaughlin Climbing ? Senior Colleen McGlaughlin’s 10 home runs and 49 RBI rank are tied for third on Iowa’s single-season lists.
Emily Nichols holds the top two single season home run marks, at 16 and 12, respectively.
Christy Hebert is second with 50 RBI, while Debbie Bilbao is first with 61 runs driven in.
Brown Likes the Finale ? In the past two seasons, junior Katie Brown has definitely saved the best for last.
In Iowa’s final two-game series last year, Brown batted .833 (5-for-6) with three home runs, one double and six RBI. She had an eye-popping 2.500 slugging percentage and a .857 on base percentage.
Last weekend against Wisconsin, Brown hit .500 (2-4) with two solo home runs and three RBI. She slugged at a 2.000 clip and had a .667 on base percentage.
Using the DP Spot ? Head Coach Gayle Blevins has used many different lineup combinations, including plenty of players as the designated player.
Five players have started for Iowa this season as the DP, including senior Colleen McGlaughlin (17 starts), sophomore Jenny Schuelke (16 starts), freshman Missy Mazur (12 starts), freshman Katie Keim (seven starts) and junior Taylor Leichsenring (three starts).
Infield…Same ? Iowa has used the same defensive lineup in the infield for 38-straight games.
The Hawkeye defense of junior Katie Brown at first base, sophomore Chelsey Carmody at second base, senior Erin Riemersma at shorstop, freshman Katie Keim at third base and freshman Liz Watkins behind the plate has remained consistent since Iowa’s game against Florida International March 7.
The Hawkeyes are 28-10 over that 36-game stretch.
Weil Reaches 1,000 K’s ? Iowa senior pitcher Brittany Weil joined a very elite group April 18 against Michigan State, becoming just the eighth pitcher in Big Ten history to record 1,000 career strikeouts.
Weil struck out her 1,000 batter with the bases loaded and two outs in the top of the fifth in game two against the Spartans. Weil is also the first Hawkeye to ever reach the 1,000 strikeout plateau, and holds Iowa’s career strikeout record. She currently has 1,072 career K’s.
Below is a list of Big Ten pitchers who belong to to the 1,000 strikeout club.
1. Jennie Ritter – Michigan – 1,205 K’s
2. Lisa Ishikawa – Northwestern – 1,200 K’s
3. Andrea Kirchberg – Wisconsin – 1,156 K’s
4. Eileen Canney – Northwestern – 1,142 K’s
5. Piper Martin – Minnesota – 1,122 K’s
6. Amy Unterbrink – Indiana – 1,089 K’s
7. Brittany Weil – Iowa – 1,072 K’s
8. Courtnay Foster – Northwestern – 1,014 K’s
Not Too Bad With the Books ? Senior Colleen McGlaughlin has been named to the ESPN the Magazine Academic all-District first team. McGlaughlin will now be on the national ballot for academic all-America consideration.
McGlaughlin, who was selected at the designated player position, is an actuarial science major and carries a perfect 4.0 grade point average.
As a junior last season, McGlaughlin was one of 11 Division I softball students nationally to be named first team Academic all-American. She was also an academic all-district pick as a sophomore and junior.
Pitchers Rank High Nationally ? Iowa’s pitching staff of senior Brittany Weil and junior Amanda Zust rank very high in some national statistics.
According to the NCAA stats released may 12, Iowa ranks ninth nationally in earned run average (1.38). Individually, Weil ranks sixth in strikeouts (328) and shutouts (14), 10th in ERA (1.1.06), 13th in strikeouts per seven innings (9.7), 16th in victories (26) and 24th in saves (3).