April 17, 2012
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THIS WEEK
The University of Iowa softball team travels to Ames, Iowa, to face Iowa State in an Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk Series match-up Wednesday at the Southwest Athletic Complex. The game is slated to begin at 4:30 p.m.
LISTEN LIVE
Fans can listen to every game for the remainder of the 2012 season via the All-Access page at hawkeyesports.com. Rob Brooks, the voice of Iowa softball, will call the action. 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.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Hawkeye fans can follow the University of Iowa softball team on the social media platforms Twitter (@iowasoftball) and Facebook (facebook.com/iowahawkeyessoftball). Game updates will be tweeted during each game.
SCOUTING IOWA STATE
The Cyclones bring a 12-28 overall and a 1-11 record in Big 12 Conference play into Wednesday’s game. Iowa State has lost 13 of its last 16 games, including four straight defeats. The squad lost at Drake, 8-6, on April 10 before being swept in a three-game series last weekend at Oklahoma State.
Iowa State is batting .252 as a team, and two players are hitting above .300. Erica Miller is batting .381 with seven home runs and 23 RBI, while Tori Torrescano is hitting .324 with a team-high 11 dingers and 36 RBI.
Torrescano has made 30 appearances and 21 starts in the circle for the Cyclones, going 7-19 with a 5.87 ERA. She has allowed 158 hits in 121.2 innings with 64 strikeouts.
SERIES/OPPONENT NOTES
? Iowa leads the all-time series over Iowa State, 31-27-1. The Hawkeyes have won the last two meetings in the series, including a 26-5 rout of the Cyclones on Feb. 18 in Tempe, Ariz.
? The Hawkeyes roughed up four ISU pitchers in the first meeting. At the plate 13 different Iowa players tallied a hit, while five players had multi-hit games. Katie Keim went 4-for-6 with five RBI and five runs, Liz Watkins went 5-for-5 with five RBI and four runs, Kayla Massey went 4-for-4 with two RBI and a run and Bradi Wall went 4-for-4 with five RBI and a run.
? Iowa State is 1-6 against nationally ranked teams this season. The Cyclones downed No. 14 Texas A&M, 2-1, on April 7 in Ames.
QUICK HITTERS
? The Hawkeyes rank third in the Big Ten Conference in team fielding (.963) and team pitching (2.63) and 10th in team batting (.254).
? Freshman Megan Blank (.400, 8-of-16), junior Johnnie Dowling (.438, 7-of-16) and senior Katie Keim (.429, 6-of-14) are all hitting above .400 over Iowa’s last five games.
? The Hawkeyes are 1-9 in road games this season with their lone win coming at Northwestern on April 7.
? Senior Liz Watkins has been plunked five times in Iowa’s last six games. She is leading the team with 11 hit by pitches this season.
? Keim hit the for the cycle in the three-game series at Northwestern, finishing with a .500 batting average (5-for-10). She doubled in game one, went 2-for-3 with a home run and triple in game two, and 2-for-3 with a double in the finale.
? Freshman Melanie Gladden delivered the game-winning RBI single to lift the Hawkeyes to a 7-6 win over Nebraska on April 14. It was her second game-winning hit, as she had a two-run double in the 2-0 victory over Virginia. Gladden also drew a bases loaded walk to give the Hawkeyes the 1-0, 10-inning victory over Illinois.
? The Iowa pitching staff went 3-0 with a 0.61 ERA in the series sweep over Illinois. The Hawkeyes allowed two earned runs and had 18 strikeouts in 23 innings.
? Junior Chelsea Lyon (2.62) and sophomore Kayla Massey (2.65) rank seventh and eighth, respectively, in the Big Ten in ERA.
? Iowa has 15 double plays this season and the .39 double plays per game ranks 32nd in the country.
? Iowa scored 26 runs in the 26-5 rout of Iowa State on Feb. 19. The Hawkeyes plated 13 runs in the top of the third inning alone. Iowa didn’t score 13 runs in a game last season.
? Twenty-one of Iowa’s 38 games have been decided two runs or less. Iowa is 8-13 in such games.
? The Hawkeyes are 13-7 this season when scoring three or more runs and 13-7 when scoring the game’s first run.
? Three Iowa players — Megan Blank, Katie Keim and Johnnie Dowling — have started every game this season.
BLANK-ISMS
? Freshman Megan Blank has reached base safely in 33-of-38 games for the Hawkeyes this season, including each of the past 12 contests. The shortstop has tallied at least one hit in 28-of-38 games, and she is tied for the team lead with 14 multi-hit games.
? Blank is a two-time Big Ten Freshman of the Week honoree, earning the distinction Feb. 13 after hitting .583 in the season-opening Getterman Classic and April 9 after hitting .667 and reaching base in 11-of-15 plate appearances in the three-game series at Northwestern.
? Blank reached base safely in nine straight plate appearances over the course of three-straight games April 4 and April 7. She walked in her final at-bat against Drake before reaching in all eight plate appearances in the Saturday doubleheader at Northwestern.
? Blank leads the Big Ten Conference with a .417 batting average. She also is tied for first in doubles (13) and triples (4), second in on-base percentage (.522), fifth in slugging percentage (.639) and 10th in hits (45) and total bases (69).
? The freshman ranks 14th in the nation in triples (4) and doubles per game (.34), 26th in on-base percentage (.522) and 44th in batting average (.417).
KEIM CONNECTS
Senior Katie Keim hit her team-leading fifth home run of the season at Northwestern on April 7. The five long balls are a career-high and match the Missouri native’s home run total for her first three years as a Hawkeye.
Keim saved the best for last, posting career-best numbers in nearly every statistical category as a senior. She is hitting .325, more than 70 points above her career average. She also has nine doubles, 30 RBI and a .547 slugging percentage. Keim is tied for the team-high with 13 multi-hit games and leads with eight multi-RBI games.
LYON TIDBITS
? Junior Chelsea Lyon has allowed four hits or fewer in six of her starts on the season.
? Lyon has four shutouts on the year, which includes a 10-inning, complete game shutout in the 1-0 victory over Illinois.
? Lyon had a career-high 10 strikeouts in Iowa’s 7-5 victory over Central Michigan on Feb. 18.
? Lyon is limiting opposing batters to a career-low .239 batting average, and she has a career-low 2.62 ERA.
? Lyon has tossed a complete game in 15 of her 21 starts during her junior season.
MASSEY STRIKES
? Sophomore Kayla Massey has allowed one earned run or fewer in nine of her 17 starts this season.
? Massey threw a three-hit, complete game shutout in Iowa’s 2-0 victory over Virginia on March 16. It was her third career seven inning three-hitter, as she accomplished the feat against Eastern Michigan and Colgate as a freshman.
? Massey notched her 20th career victory in Iowa’s 7-6 win over Nebraska on April 14.
RECORD SETTING ROUT
Iowa had a record-setting 26-5 rout of Iowa State on Feb. 18 at the Littlewood Classic in Tempe, Ariz. The Hawkeyes set school records for runs (26), hits (29), RBI (23), total bases (41) and single game batting average (.659). Iowa scored 13 runs in the second inning alone, which is believed to be the school record.
Senior Katie Keim set a school record with five runs scored, while senior Liz Watkins tied the single game school record with five hits.
NOT SHYING AWAY FROM TOP COMPETITION
The Hawkeyes have not shied away from playing against the nation’s elite. Iowa has played 10 games against ranked teams, including eight games against top 13 ranked foes.
Iowa is 1-9 against ranked competition with its lone victory coming against No. 23 Oklahoma State, 6-5, on March 3 in Oklahoma City. The Hawkeyes nearly defeated No. 5 Arizona State in Tempe, falling 5-2 despite taking a 2-0 lead into the bottom of the seventh inning.
The Hawkeyes have squared off against three pitchers — Missouri’s Chelsea Thomas, Baylor’s Whitney Canion and Oklahoma’s Keilani Ricketts — that played for the USA Women’s National Team last summer.
DOWLING MAKES THE MOVE
At the plate, junior Johnnie Dowling made the transition from a right-handed hitter to a left-handed slapper following the 2011 season to utilize her speed. The Des Moines, Iowa, native hit .216 with five home runs as a sophomore.
WALL STILL GROWING
The 2012 season will be junior Bradi Wall’s third year playing softball. Growing up, she played baseball and parlayed that experience into two appearances for the Canada National Baseball Team. The last two years Wall played softball at Iowa Western Community College, where she earned All-America recognition after batting .458 with 32 doubles.
MAY-JOHNSON AND TEAM USA
UI assistant coach Stacy May-Johnson was selected as the 2011 USA Softball Female Athlete of the Year. She earned the honor after helping Team USA to gold medals at the World Cup of Softball VII and the Pan American Games. May-Johnson batted a team-best .418 with team highs in home runs (six), runs (26) and RBI (36). She will play for the Red, White and Blue again in 2012.
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.