Hawkeyes Resume Big Ten Play at Purdue

April 1, 2011

Complete Release in PDF Format

THIS WEEK
The University of Iowa softball team heads to West Lafayette, Ind., this weekend to resume Big Ten play at Purdue. The Hawkeyes face the Boilermakers at 1 p.m. (CT) Saturday and 11 a.m. (CT) Sunday at the Varsity Softball Complex. Sunday’s game will be televised live on the Big Ten Network with Lisa Byington and Stacey Phillips calling the action.

ON THE TUBE
Sunday’s series finale at Purdue will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network. Lisa Byington will handle the play-by-play with Stacey Phillips providing color commentary. It is the first of five games televised for the Hawkeyes this season.

LISTEN LIVE ONLINE
Fans can follow the Hawkeyes online via the All-Access page at hawkeyesports.com. Rob Brooks or Jerry Kiwala will call the action live at all home and away events for the remainder of the season. Hawkeye All-Access is a subscription service that charges $9.95 per month.

ON THE WEB
Fans can follow the action at hawkeyesports.com, where live stats (Gametracker) will be available. The live “GT” can be found under the calendar tab on the right-hand side of the hawkeyesports.com home page, or on the softball schedule page.

LAST WEEK
The Hawkeyes opened Big Ten Conference schedule last weekend with a series sweep over Ohio State in Columbus. Iowa used a 4-for-4 day at the plate from Liz Watkins to win the opening game, 5-3. The Hawkeyes then completed the sweep with a 7-2 Sunday victory, as the squad pounded out 12 hits.

Iowa extended its winning streak to five games with a 10-2 victory at Western Illinois Wednesday afternoon. The Hawkeyes had 16 hits in the game, and Iowa’s pitching staff allowed five hits in the contest.

THE OPPONENT
Purdue had its five-game winning streak snapped Thursday night at Notre Dame, dropping a 7-5 decision in South Bend. The defeat dropped the Boilermaker’s record to 19-8 overall.

Purdue is batting .329 as a team with 18 home runs and 122 runs scored. Six Boilermakers are above .300 on the season with Andie Varsho leading the way with a .459 clip. Varsho, who has earned Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors three times this season, has 10 doubles, 19 RBI and 18 stolen bases. Three Purdue players have double digit steal totals with Molly Garst leading the way with 21 steals in 23 attempts.

Suzie Rzegocki is the team’s top pitcher, posting a 16-7 record with a 1.93 ERA in 24 appearances. Rzegocki has thrown 134.1 of 175 innings on the season, where she has tallied 100 strikeouts and held batters to a .232 average.

SERIES/OPPONENT NOTES
? The Hawkeyes have dominated the action against the Boilermakers, as they lead the series 37-6. Last season, Purdue and Iowa split the series in Iowa City. Iowa won the opener 1-0 before falling in the finale, 2-0.
? Prior to the split, Iowa had won eight of the previous nine games in the series with Purdue’s lone victory coming in the 2007 Big Ten Tournament.
? Diane Stephenson, who served as Iowa’s hitting coach and catching instructer the last two years, is in her first season at Purdue. Stephenson replaced former Iowa head coach Gayle Blevins as the head coach at Indiana in 1987, and held the position until 2002.

WATKINS NAMED CO-BIG TEN PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Junior Liz Watkins was tabbed as the Co-Big Ten Player of the Week March 28 after hitting .714 with six RBI and three runs scored in Iowa’s series sweep at Ohio State. The catcher went 4-for-4 in the opener with three RBI before tallying her fifth straight hit on a three-run long ball to send Iowa to the sweep. It was Watkins’ second career honor.

OCHOA TABBED BIG TEN PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Senior Stephanie Ochoa was named the Big Ten Player of the Week March 21 after hitting .612 to lead the Hawkeyes to a 4-2 record. The California native went 4-for-4 in a game at No. 11 Tennessee, which were a career high in hits. She then closed out the week going 5-for-6 with four runs and an RBI in the doubleheader sweep of South Dakota.

BATS HOT IN BIG TEN OPENING WEEKEND
The Hawkeyes lead the Big Ten in hitting following the first weekend of conference action. Iowa had 20 hits to bat .345 in the two game sweep of Ohio State. Junior Liz Watkins is leading the league in hitting in conference-only games coming in at a .714 clip, while sophomore Johnnie Dowling is sixth at .600.

DURING THE CURRENT FIVE-GAME WINNING STREAK
? The Hawkeyes have out scored the opposition 29-5 over the first three innings. This includes 13-2 in the first, 4-1 in the second and 12-2 in the third.
? Iowa is batting .387 as a team with six starters batting over .300. Liz Watkins is pacing the squad with eight hits in 12 at-bats with 10 RBI and seven runs scored. She has three home runs and seven base on balls during the stretch.
? The Iowa pitching staff is holding the opposition to a 1.53 ERA and a .188 batting average.

TWO STRAIGHT GAMES WITH JACKS
Junior Liz Watkins has hit home runs in each of the last two games. She connected on a three-run long ball in Iowa’s 7-2 victory at Ohio State. Watkins then hit her seventh jack of the season in the road win at Western Illinois. The Illinois native now has 21 career home runs, which are the fifth most in Iowa history.

TEAM TIDBITS
? Senior Chelsey Carmody has hit safely in 30-of-31 games this season. The shortstop has a team-leading 12 multi-hit games, and she is tied for the Big Ten lead with 46 hits and is tied for fifth in batting average with teammate Stephanie Ochoa (.438).
? Iowa finished with 16 hits in the road win at Western Illinos, which were the second most for the squad in a game this season (18, at FGCU). It was the team’s second straight game with 10 plus hits and its eighth of the season.
? Sophomore Ashley Akers had a career high three hits against the Leathernecks, while junior Katie Keim tied a career best with three hits.
? Iowa is aggressive on the base paths, as the squad has 44 stolen bases on the season. The Hawkeyes have swiped more than one base in 11 games on the year.
? Sophomore Chelsea Lyon has gone the distance to register complete games in nine of her last 10 starts.
? Freshman Kayla Massey has allowed four hits or fewer in seven starts this season. Massey has nine complete games and three shutouts on her resume.
? Freshman Brianna Luna hit a third inning long ball for what appeared to be her first career home run March 27 at Ohio State. After failing to touch second base when she was rounding the bases, Luna was credited with a single before being rule out at second.

3 HAWKEYES, 4 HITS
Three different Hawkeye players have posted perfect 4-for-4 games at the plate this season. Chelsey Carmody accomplished the feat against Liberty on March 12 in Florida, Stephanie Ochoa went 4-for-4 at No. 11 Tennessee, and Liz Watkins went 4-for-4 in the Big Ten opening win at Ohio State.

CARMODY’S STREAK SNAPPED
Senior Chelsey Carmody had her 25-game hitting streak snapped on March 18 at No. 11 Tennessee. The streak was the longest in the nation and the longest in the NCAA in two years.

LYON STRONG ON THE MOUND
Sophomore Chelsea Lyon has a 7-1 record on the rubber over her last eight appearances with a 1.58 ERA and 34 strikeouts. The Oklahoma native tallied her first career complete game shutout in the 10-0 victory over South Dakota, scattering two hits in five innings with seven strikeouts. Lyon’s lone defeat came at No. 11 Tennessee, where she allowed two runs on five hits.

Lyon has a 2.76 earned run average in 21 appearances. She is 10-8 overall with 79 strikeouts in 101.1 innings.

HAWKEYES WIN STETSON CLASSIC
Iowa posted a 4-1 record to win the round robin formatted Stetson Classic Mar. 11-13 in DeLand, Fla. After opening the tournament with a loss to Liberty, the Hawkeyes won four straight games, including beating Liberty, 4-3, in the championship game.

MASSEY TIED FOR TEAM LEAD IN WINS
True freshman Kayla Massey has posted a 9-4 record with a team-leading 2.69 ERA in 21 appearances. The California native has three complete game shutouts on her resume, which includes a four-hitter with nine strikeouts in her first career start against Maryland on Feb. 11.

MOVIN’ ON UP
A pair of Hawkeyes are among the career statistical leaders in school history. Below is the breakdown.

Liz Watkins
5th – Home runs – 21

Chelsey Carmody
6th – Hits – 221
7th – Batting Average – .345
8th – Runs – 119
t10th – Triples – 10
12th – Doubles – 33

TEAM CAPTAINS
Senior Chelsey Carmody and junior Katie Keim were chosen by their teammates as the team captains for the 2011 Hawkeyes.

FIVE GAMES TO BE TELEVISED ON BTN
Five Iowa softball games will be televised live on the Big Ten Network this season. Hawkeye road games at Purdue (Apr. 3), the doubleheader at Minnesota (Apr. 13) and home contests against Northwestern (Apr. 17) and Penn State (May 8) will all be broadcast live.

YOUTH DOMINATED
The Hawkeyes have a youth-filled roster in 2011, as 11 of the 16 student-athletes are underclassmen. The Iowa roster is comprised of three seniors, two juniors, six sophomores and five freshmen.

TWO-TIME ALL-BIG TEN SELECTION RETURNS
Two-time all-Big Ten selection Liz Watkins returns behind the plate for her junior season in Black and Gold. Last season, Watkins was a second team all-Big Ten selection after batting .328 with seven doubles, five triples, five home runs and 26 RBI. As a freshman, Watkins was a third team all-Big Ten honoree, hitting .331 with nine jacks and 45 RBI.

FORMER HAWKEYE RETURNS TO STAFF
Four-year letterwinner Stacy Johnson (formerly Stacy May) returns to the Hawkeye coaching staff after wrapping up a stellar professional player career in the National Professional Fastpitch league.

Johnson, who started every game in her Iowa career, was a three-time NFCA all-Mideast Region selection for the Hawkeyes. In 2003, she was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year after leading the Hawkeyes to the regular season and conference tournament titles.

TOUGH SCHEDULE IN 2011
The Hawkeyes will play a challenging schedule in 2011, as 12 of their opponents participated in the NCAA Tournament a season ago. Two of Iowa’s foes — Tennessee and Georgia — both advanced to the 2010 Women’s College World Series.

HAWKEYE TRADITION
Iowa has made four Women’s College World Series appearances (1995, 1996, 1997, 2001) and it has played in 16 NCAA Tournaments in school history. The 16 appearances are the second most in Big Ten history.

The Hawkeyes have won four Big Ten Conference regular season championships and two Big Ten Tournament titles.