Northwestern sophomore pitcher Lauren Delaney has been named the Louisville Slugger/NFCA Division I National Player of the Week for the week ending May 11, it was announced on Tuesday.
Delaney was named the Big Ten Tournament MVP after pitching three consecutive shutouts to lead the Wildcats to the 2008 Big Ten Tournament Championship, allowing just five hits and no runs with 24 strikeouts in 17 innings of work.
After limiting Ohio State to one hit and Minnesota to two hits in the quarterfinal and semifinal games, respectively, Delaney threw a two-hit shutout in the championship game against an Iowa team that had run-ruled both of its previous Tournament opponents.
Delaney also hit a few milestones on the weekend, breaking the Northwestern single-season wins record with her 34th win to surpass Wildcat All-Americans Lisa Ishikawa (1984) and Eileen Canney (2007) while also becoming the second pitcher in NU history to record 400 strikeouts in a single season.
Northwestern is the 11th seed in the NCAA Tournament and is ranked No. 11 in this week’s USA Today/NFCA Division I Top-25 poll. The Wildcats are hosting an NCAA regional and open against Western Illinois on Friday afternoon.