Northwestern freshman Adrienne Monka has been selected the Louisville Slugger/NFCA Division I National Player of the Week, the NFCA announced on Tuesday. Monka was selected based on her performance for the week ending April 19, 2009.
The Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., native hit .765 (13-for-17) in five games, driving in 13 runs and slugging 1.706 with a .778 on-base percentage. At one point during the week, she had base hits in eight-consecutive at-bats spanning three different games, a streak that is tied for ninth longest in NCAA Division I history.
Monka began the week with a three-run homer Wednesday in an extra-inning win over No. 23 Iowa during the first game of a doubleheader. She then was a perfect 4-for-4 with a grand slam and seven RBIs in the second game versus the Hawkeyes, giving her 10 RBIs over the ranked league foe in a single day. Iowa had entered the weekend as the third-ranked pitching staff in the nation with a 1.11 team ERA.
Monka continued her streak with a perfect 3-for-3 effort with a double and a home run in a non-conference win Thursday at Loyola (Chicago). Then, after going 2-for-3 in the first game of a double-dip at Purdue Saturday, she hit home runs in her first two at-bats in the second game against the Boilermakers en route to a 3-for-4 performance.
Monka now has a team-best 15 home runs, breaking the NU freshman record of 14 set in 2006 by Tammy Williams (Roscoe, Mo./Osceola) and matched by Nicole Pauly (Palatine, Ill./Palatine) in 2007. Monka also raised her season batting average from .329 to .404 over the course of the week.
Northwestern is ranked 11th in this week’s USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 Poll.