THIS WEEK
The University of Iowa softball team returns to Leesburg, Florida, to play six conference games this weekend against Penn State and Maryland at the Sleepy Hollow Sports Complex. The Hawkeyes have three games against Penn State starting on Thursday and three games against Maryland starting on Saturday.
FRESHMEN IN ACTION
- Nine true freshmen saw action for the Hawkeyes in the opening weekend.
- Eight of those nine started a game for the Hawkeyes.
KEEPING IT .500
- Sophomore Nia Carter is batting .500 on the season (10-20).
- That is tied for the third best batting average in the BIg Ten.
DOUBLE DOWN
- Freshman Denali Loecker is tied for first in the conference in doubles (3).
BURNS NOTICE
- Sophomore Kalena Burns hit two home runs last weekend for the Hawkeyes.
- That ranks second in the Big Ten.
WALK IT OFF
- Sophomore Nia Carter hit a walk off two RBI single to defeat Ohio State in Iowa’s second game of the season.
MOVING UP THE IOWA LEADERBOARD
- Senior Allison Doocy ranks 12th in career pitching appearances (114). She is one appearance away from tying Chelsea Lyon for 11th. She is 11 away from tying Kristi Hanks for 10th.
- She ranks ninth in career complete games (66).
- She ranks sixth in career strikeouts (630).
- She is ranked 10th in career strikeouts among active D1 players.
BUILDING MOMENTUM
- Iowa finished the 2020 season 17-5 overall, one of the best starts in program history.
- The 1991 team was 53-11 and the 2000 team finished 46-15. With two more wins, Iowa would have tied its win total from 2019.
- Iowa was on pace for its highest win total since at least 2013 (30).
- The 2020 team joined the 1991 (18-2) and 2000 (13-1) teams as the best starts in program history.
IOWA PICKED TO FINISH FIFTH IN BIG TEN IN 2021
- Iowa was picked to finish fifth in the conference by D1 Softball.
- The Hawkeyes were also named as a projected regional team.
B1G LEADER
- Sophomore Nia Carter returns after leading the Big Ten in batting average throughout the nonconference season last year.
- Carter batted .509 with nine RBIs, two doubles, and one triple.
- The Rancho Cucamonga, California, native had 28 hits on the season to four strikeouts. She was the only player in the Big Ten’s top 20 with less than five strikeouts.
- Carter ranked fifth in the Big Ten in total hits (28).
- Nationally, Carter was 11th in batting average.
(FUN)-DAMENTALS
- Iowa finished first in the Big Ten in fielding.
- Iowa’s .976 fielding percentage paced the conference, and its 15 errors was fewest.
- The Hawkeyes had 450 putouts with 152 assists and 15 errors.
- On the basepaths, Iowa caught five runners stealing of 17 attempted steals.
- Nationally, Iowa was 29th in the nation in fielding percentage.
CARTER NAMED TO JWOS ALL-FRESHMAN TEAM
- University of Iowa freshman Nia Carter was named to the 2020 Justin’s World of Softball (JWOS) All-Freshman team.
- Carter was the first Hawkeye to win an All-Freshman award since Stacy May won Big Ten Freshman of the Year in 2003.
DYNAMIC DUO
- Senior Lauren Shaw and senior Allison Doocy were a potent one-two punch for the Hawkeyes on the mound.
- The duo combined for 163 strikeouts in 141.3 innings.
- Doocy was second in the Big Ten with a 1.54 ERA and Shaw was fourth with a 1.71 ERA.
- Shaw was one of four pitchers in the conference with nine wins.
- Doocy was fourth in the Big Ten with 102 strikeouts, she struck out 41-percent of the batters she faced. (102-249).
- Doocy ranked 17th in the nation with 10.4 strikeouts per seven innings.
- As a team, Iowa ranked second in the Big Ten with a 2.15 combined ERA.
- Iowa’s pitching staff ranked 15th in the nation in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.85).
B1G AWARDS LAST SEASON
- Lauren Shaw was named the Big Ten Pitcher of the Week on Febuary 17.
- Kalena Burns was named the Big Ten Co-Freshman of the Week following her performance at The Spring Games, March 6-7.
- Nia Carter was named the Big Ten’s Freshman of the Week and Player of the Week on March 24.