April 8, 2011
- 2011 Iowa Softball Media Guide
- Download your Iowa Hawkeye iPhone app!
- Iowa and the Big Ten Network
- Big Ten Network: Free Hawkeye Video
- 24 Hawkeyes to Watch
Complete Release in PDF Format
THIS WEEK
The University of Iowa softball team hosts Michigan State this weekend in its Big Ten Conference home opening series at Pearl Field. The Hawkeyes host the Spartans at 2 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday. The series finale will be streamed live on bigtennetwork.com.
WATCH LIVE
Sunday’s series finale will be streamed live at www.bigtennetwork.com. The “Student U” broadcast will feature Mack Baker and Brendan Ferguson calling the action live. The game will be rebroadcast on the Big Ten Network April 13 at 9 a.m.
ON THE RADIO
Saturday’s game against Michigan State will be broadcast on AM-800 KXIC in Iowa City with Rob Brooks handling the play-by-play duties.
LISTEN LIVE ONLINE
Fans can follow the Hawkeyes online via the All-Access page at hawkeyesports.com. Rob Brooks, the voice of Iowa softball, 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.
FOLLOW IOWA SOFTBALL ON TWITTER
Hawkeye fans can follow the University of Iowa softball team on Twitter: @iowasoftball.
LAST WEEK
The Hawkeyes dropped a pair of Big Ten games at Purdue last weekend, falling 12-1 in five innings in the opener and 3-0 in the finale. The Boilermakers hit a total of four home runs in the two games and Purdue pitcher Suzie Rzegocki allowed a single run in 12 innings with 12 strikeouts.
Iowa dropped a 2-1 road contest at Drake Wednesday night. The Hawkeyes, which had just two hits in the game, led 1-0 after six innings, but the Bulldogs plated two runs in their final at-bat to rally for the win.
THE OPPONENT
The Spartans have dropped five of their last seven games to fall to 20-15 overall and 2-4 in the Big Ten. After getting swept by Illinois to open conference play, Michigan State split series with both Wisconsin and Penn State.
MSU, which is batting .286 as a team, has four players hitting above .300 on the year. Lindsey Hansen is pacing the squad with a .411 clip, while leading the Big Ten in both home runs (13) and RBI (41).
Cassee Layne and Lauren Kramer are tied for the Michigan State lead with eight victories. Layne has six shutouts and 11 complete games on the season with a 3.27 ERA and 83 strikeouts. Kramer, meanwhile, has a 5.08 ERA.
SERIES/OPPONENT NOTES
? Iowa leads the all-time series over Michigan State, 68-27. The Hawkeyes have won each of the last nine meetings in the series with the Spartans’ last victory coming during the 2006 season. Last season, Iowa won both games in East Lansing, 3-1 and 7-6.
? Michigan State and Iowa have played four common non-conference opponents this season. The Spartans won games against Stetson (8-1), Florida Gulf Coast (12-3) and Eastern Michigan (9-1), while dropping a doubleheader at Tennessee (14-0, 11-2).
? The Spartans are fourth in the Big Ten in team batting (.286) and second in home runs (33). MSU’s pitching and team fielding, however, is 10th in the conference with a 3.81 ERA and .951 fielding percentage.
NEEDING THE BATS TO COME ALIVE
Since pounding out 16 hits in the 10-2 road win at Western Illinois, the Iowa bats have gone cold. The Hawkeyes are hitting .179 during the three-game losing streak with a combined 12 hits in the three games.
11 SCORELESS INNINGS
Since giving up a first inning, three-run long ball at Purdue, freshman Kayla Massey has thrown 11 scoreless innings over her past two starts for the Hawkeyes. The California native has given up eight hits in the 11 innings of work.
TEAM TIDBITS
? Senior Chelsey Carmody has hit safely in 30-of-33 games this season. The shortstop has a team-leading 12 multi-hit games, and she is third in the Big Ten with 47 hits.
? Senior Stephanie Ochoa is fifth in the Big Ten with a .430 batting average. Carmody is seventh with a .423 average.
? Iowa is aggressive on the base paths, as the squad has 45 stolen bases on the season, which is fourth most in the Big Ten. 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 11 starts.
? Freshman Kayla Massey has allowed four hits or fewer in seven starts this season. Massey has 10 complete games and three shutouts on her resume.
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.
TWO STRAIGHT GAMES WITH JACKS
Junior Liz Watkins hit home runs in back-to-back games at Ohio State and Western Illinois. She connected on a three-run long ball in Iowa’s 7-2 victory over the Buckeyes before hitting 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.
IOWA IS…
? 17-3 when scoring three or more runs.
? 14-4 when giving up two or fewer runs.
? 13-3 when hitting a home run.
? 18-6 when scoring first.
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.
MULTI-HIT HAWKEYES
Eleven different Iowa players have tallied at least one multi-hit game this season. Senior Chelsey Carmody leads the squad with 12 multi-hit games, including three contests with at least three hits. Fellow senior Stephanie Ochoa is also in double digits with 10 multi-hit games, while Liz Watkins and Katie Keim each have seven on the year.
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 IN THE CIRCLE
Sophomore Chelsea Lyon has a 7-3 record on the rubber over her last nine appearances with a 2.57 ERA and 38 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 has a 3.19 earned run average in 22 appearances. She is 10-9 overall with 82 strikeouts in 105.1 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.
SOLID FRESHMAN SEASON
True freshman Kayla Massey has posted a 9-5 record with a team-leading 2.59 ERA in 23 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 – 222
7th – Batting Average – .342
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.