Outstanding Division I Player Performances.
Heather Brown, Pitcher, Syracuse Brown tossed back-to-back shutouts in less than 24 hours when she beat Colgate, 1-0 in nine innings on April 10 and Binghamton, 2-0 on April 11. Brown's 21 strikeouts in nine innings versus Colgate tied the NCAA Division I record for single-game strikeouts in contests that lasted nine innings or less. Her total is tied for sixth-best all-time regardless of the length of the game and was only five away from the NCAA record of 26 that was accomplished twice, in a 16-inning and 12-inning game. She did not allow the Red Raiders a hit until the eighth inning. Brown put together a string of 20 consecutive scoreless innings and 20 straight innings with at least one strikeout this week. She struck out 40 batters in 23 innings for an average of 12.17 K's per seven innings pitched. She also struck out eight in a loss to Connecticut. She boasted a 20-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio for the week. Jenny Topping, Catcher, Cal State Fullerton Topping hit .333 this week (4-for-12) while scoring a run and driving in three to help propel the Titans to a 3-1 record, including taking 2-of-3 from second place Pacific. Two of her four hits were doubles and she now has 17 on the season, moving her into sixth place on the school's single-season list in that category. With her three RBI this past week, it also moves her into a tie for third with Yasmin Moassadeghi on the single-season RBI list. Mossadeghi had 48 RBI in 2000. Topping kicked the week off with a 2-for-3 performance at Long Beach State and matched the effort in the second game of a doubleheader with Pacific on Friday, going 2-for-3 with two doubles and three RBI. For the season, Topping is hitting .415 overall with 44 runs, 17 doubles, 10 home runs, and 48 RBI. She is slugging .807, has walked 52 times, and has amassed an on-base percentage of .556 in 49 games. Arizona nominates Jennie Finch for player of the week. No. 2 Arizona defeated No. 8 Arizona State, 3-0, 4-3, led by Finch on the mound and at the plate. In UA's 3-0 win, Finch hit the winning home run in the bottom of the 11th inning. On the mound, she struck 12 batters and allowed only two hits. Finch came in the pitch for Arizona in the top of the eighth inning to pitch and claimed the win. She struck out 3 and allowed one hit. She pitched two innings. For the series she hit .333, with a 0.00 ERA. She is hitting on the season, .339 with 10 home runs. She is 16-0 on the mound and has a 0.35 ERA. Arizona is 41-4 on the season and 5-2 in the Pacific-10 conference. Lindsey Hamma, Illinois Hamma had her best week as an Illini batting 12-for-19 for a .632 batting average for the week as the Illini went 6-0 for the week. She improved her overall batting average by 31 percentage points, moving it to .358. Had two of Illinois three hits in Illinois 1-0 win over No. 12 Iowa. On a team consisting of all freshmen, Hamma leads the team with a 358 batting average and 59 hits. Nichole Urban, Pitcher, Georgia Nichole Urban started all four of Georgia's rival games this week, earning wins in the first three. She pitched two complete-game victories over Georgia Tech on Wednesday before throwing another seven-inning gem against Florida on Saturday. She allowed just four earned runs in her three wins, and only walked five batters all week. Her second win over Tech and game one against Florida were back-to-back three-hitters. Earlier this season Urban won six consecutive decisions, including a stretch of five straight Bulldog victories. The line on Urban: four games pitched, three wins, zero losses, 24 innings pitched, 20 hits, 12 runs, eight earned runs, 2.33 ERA, five walks and eight strikeouts. Shelley Laird, Pitcher, Alabama Shelley picked up her 10th shutout of the season and 25th in her career when she threw a one-hitter against Ole Miss. The Rebels one hit came in the top of the 7th inning. At one point during the Ole Miss game, Laird struck two batters each in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings. Leslie Poole, Pitcher, Fresno State In a 1-0 win over Stanford, Poole gave up eight hits, walked two and struck out two for her 15th win of the year, 11th shutout overall and her fifth consecutive shutout victor. She extended her scoreless streak to 41.0 innings and did not give up a run or earned run in her last seven games (5 starts, 2 relief). Against Hawaii, Poole notched her first collegiate save in the Bulldogs’ 1-0 win over the Rainbow Wahine. Poole tossed 2.1 innings and gave up two hits and struck out one in relief help for game-winner Lori Hoffman. Poole owns a 0.62 ERA in conference action with two shutouts,one save, and 10 strikeouts in 34.0 innings. Overall, Poole is 16-6 with 11 shutouts, 1 save, 74 strikeouts and a 1.00 ERA in 154.0 innings. And, in her last 70.1 innings, Poole has yielded just six runs (all earned) with 12 walks and 32 strikeouts for a 0.60 ERA. Jen White-Stokes, Pitcher, Florida State Jen White-Stokes started all three games for the Seminoles as FSU posted a 3-0 record and outscored its opponents 22-3. White-Stokes hit .500 with two doubles, a home run and four RBI. She slugged 1.000 and recorded 10 total bases for the week. She hit .667 with runners on base, .600 with runners in scoring position and she advanced runners successfully 67 percent of the time. White-Stokes also hit 1.000 with two outs and recorded three two-out RBI in the three games. Courtney Wright, Shortstop, University of Kansas Nicole Neuerburg, Pitcher, Southwest Texas State Neuerburg had a 0.00 ERA in 14 innings of work, allowing only one hit over the weekend. She had a near no-hitter in the second game of the University of Texas-San Antonio series. UTSA's Serena Ormsby hit a two-out, full count double to bust the no-hit bid. Neuerburg recovered from that to pitch a perfect game in the third game of the series. As was the case in game two, Neuerburg faced Newby with two out in the seventh, but this time Neuerburg won the battle and the perfect game. This marks the first time any SWT pitcher has thrown a no-hitter, let alone a perfect game. The victories improve Neuerburg's record to 16-5 overall with a 0.81 ERA. Jenni Shideler, Stanford Outstanding Division II Player Performances. Abby Bourman, Centerfield, St. Cloud State (MN) Bourman batted .467 (7-for-15) in five games with two doubles, one homer and five RBIs to her credit. She helped the Huskies gain a 3-2 record at the South Dakota State Invitational, which included wins over Winona State, Southwest State and Morningside College. SCSU lost to nationally ranked Augustana and Truman State. In play against Augustana, Bourman went 3-for-3 with one double, one home run, two runs and three RBIs. SCSU is now 21-10 this season. Amber Cowher, Pitcher, Bloomsburg (PA). Amber Cowher was 3-0 for the week with a 1.64 ERA. Among her three wins was a five-inning no-hitter against East Stroudsburg Saturday. In the no-hitter, the first of her career, Cowher walked one and struck out two. The no-hitter was the 42nd in Bloomsburg softball history.She also had a win over Kutztown in which she allowed just one run on six hits. For the year, Cowher is 12-3 with 1.32 ERA. Tafara Layne, New York Tech Tafara Layne hit .579 (11-for-19) with a .652 on base percentage as New York Tech went 5-1. She went 3-for-5 with 3 rbi's vs Philadelphia University (game two) and 5-for-8 in the doubleheader sweep. She went 2-for-3 with 2 runs scored and an rbi Vs Assumption College (game one) and in the doubleheader sweep she went 4-7. She went 1-for-1 with a 2 run homerun vs. Bridgeport (game one) to give NYIT a 3-1 lead, although Bridgeport came back to win the game 4-3. She had 2 walks in the game. She went 1-for-3 in the second game. Kellie Luther, Outfield, Gannon (PA) Luther led Gannon to a 6-2 week with a .321 batting average. She was 2-for-4 with a run in 10-0 rout of Mercyhurst in Tuesday's second game. She went 2-for-4 with two runs and one RBI in 9-6 victory over Walsh in Thursday's second game. She recorded a hit in seven of eight games last week. She is third on the team in batting average (.370). She leads the team in AB (108), hits (40), and doubles (9). Stacie Miller, Catcher, Lock Haven Miller recorded five hits and eight RBI's in the second game versus Indiana (PA), including a grand slam and a double. Her home run against California (PA) gave her a total of seven, tying the LHU season record. Miller currently leads LHU in BA (.446), hits (37), 2B (12), HR (7), and SLG% (.843). Earlier this season she broke the school career mark for doubles, now with 40 doubles. Connie Milroth, Pitcher, Wayne State (MI) Milroth was 3-0 this past week with a 0.33 ERA. She allowed only one earned run in 21.0 innings. Milroth is 10-7 overall with a 1.65 ERA. She has 15 complete games in 17 starts. Milroth has four shutouts on the season. Wayne State was 6-0 this past week. Mia Prieur, First Base, Ferris State (MI) Mila Prieur posted a .588 batting average (10-for-17) with one double, two home runs, three runs scored and six runs batted in to go along with a .977 fielding percentage (37-6-1) as Ferris State registered a 5-1 mark during the week, including a conference road sweep of Gannon. She recorded four multi-hit games during the week, including going 3-for-3 with a three RBI performance in the first game of a road conference sweep of Mercyhurst to extend FSU's current winning string to four straight. Prieur went 2-for-2 with a double and home run in game two at Gannon. She compiled at least one run batted in the last four consecutive games to date and hit a home run in each of the two contests versus Gannon. Mindi Scala, third Base, Southern Connecticut State Mindi Scala was 11-for-16 for the week with nine RBIs, three Doubles, one home run and six runs scored. She had a game-winning, 2-out bases loaded double (3 RBIs) in the bottom of the seventh in a 4-3 win vs New Haven. Outstanding Division III Player Performances Anna Sims, Pitcher, Simpson College (IA) Sims was 2-0 on the week with two shutouts. She struck out 13 in nine innings of work. facing 30 batters and giving up just three hits in wins over Upper Iowa (10-0) and Cornell College (5-0). Tiffany Trahan, First Base, Tufts (MA) The Tufts offense had 40 hits in three games during the week, and Trahan led the pack. She was 9 for 11, an outstanding .818 batting average for the week. She also scored 7 runs, drove in 3, hit her fourth home run and also doubled. She was 6-8, scored four runs and drove home three in Tufts' double-header sweep of Amherst in a match-up between the league's East and West leading teams. In game one's 8-0 win, Trahan was 3 for 3 with 2 runs scored, 2 rbi, a home run and a double. In game two's 9-6 win, she was 3-5 with 2 runs scored and an rbi. In a non-conference game earlier in the week at Salem State, she was 3 for 3 and scored three runs. Mandy Carnes, DP/First Base, Muskingum College (OH) Missy Voigt, Thrid Base, Central College (IA) Set school record with three home runs in doubleheader at Wartburg Tied school record with two home runs in second game at Wartburg. Central defeated Luther, 8-0, 1-0; split at Wartburg, losing 5-4, winning 11-1. Karen Guckenberger, Pitcher, Wisconsin-Stevens Point Audrey Bowen, First Base/Pitcher, The College of New Jersey In a 4-0 week for TCNJ, Bowen was 8-13 (.615) with four RBI's, two runs, two doubles, and a triple. She was also 1-for-1 in stolen bases. She leads the team in putouts with 135 and sports a .950 fielding percentage. Bowen is second in RBIs with 12, second in triples with 2, and third in doubles with seven, is tied for second in hits with 28 and tied for third in runs with nine. Beth Gordon, First Base/DP, Wisconsin-LaCrosse Gordon ent 9-for-15 (.600) for the UW-Oshkosh Invitational and 9-for-18 (.500) for the week. In five games at the UW-Oshkosh Invitational, Gordon scored eight runs, had 11 RBI, two doubles, and a home run. She went 3-for- 4 with three runs scored, a walk, home run, and seven RBI in the Eagle's victory over Milwaukee School of Engineering. The seven RBI tied a single game school record. Gordon's home run versus MSOE was a grand slam.
