Cat Osterman of Texas and Iyhia McMichael of Mississippi State have been named the Louisville Slugger Co-National Players of the Week for the week of March 24-30.
It is the first tie since April 17, 2002, when Osterman and Fresno State's Jamie Southern shared the honor. Osterman tied her career high for strikeouts in a game with 23 against Nebraska as the fifth-ranked Longhorns downed the Huskers 1-0 in 10 innings. She also struck out 23 in a 14-inning victory against Mississippi State on March 1, 2002. Osterman threw a three-hitter against Baylor to notch her 50th career win at Texas. She struck out 11 in the 6-1 Big XII victory over the Bears. On the season, Osterman has a 0.48 ERA and has struck out 250 batters in just 117.1 innings pitched. The sophomore from Houston is 15-3 on the season, and has not allowed an earned run against Big XII competition. McMichael, a junior from Nacogdoches, Texas, led Mississippi State to its first conference sweep of the season and an upset of then-No. 11 LSU last week. She went 11-for-18 at the plate (.611) with one home run, two doubles, and seven RBI's. She was also a perfect 8-for-8 on stolen base attempts. McMichael is currently on a 21-game hitting streak, and has stolen 32 consecutive bases for the Bulldogs. She leads Mississippi State in 11 offensive categories, including batting average (.458), triples (5), home runs (10) and RBI (41). She needs just three stolen bases to eclipse MSU's career record, held by four-time NFCA All American Kellie Wilkerson.
