University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Prepare for Weekend Games at Purdue
3/25/2009 12:00:00 AM | Softball
MINNESOTA CONTINUES BIG TEN PLAY AT PURDUE
The University of Minnesota softball team will attempt to remain undefeated in the Big Ten when it travels to West Lafayette, Ind., for a pair of games against the Purdue Boilermakers this weekend.
Minnesota is 19-18 overall and 2-0 in the league following a 5-1 week which concluded with a sweep of two games at Indiana University to open Big Ten play. The Gophers have won three-straight games, and six of their past eight.
Minnesota and Purdue have played 32 times in games that count toward the Big Ten standings, with the teams going 16-16 in those contests. In non-conference or tournament play, Minnesota holds a 2-1 edge, so the Gophers lead the all-time series, 18-17.
HASSETT IS BIG TEN PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Senior pitcher Briana Hassett was named the Big Ten Pitcher of the Week for her performance in games between March 16-22.
Hassett was instrumental in Minnesota going 5-1 by starting five of the six games for the Gophers and posting a record of 4-1 with a 0.81 earned run average.
The senior right-hander had three complete games, including the back-to-back shutouts against Indiana to help the Gophers open Big Ten play with a record of 2-0 for the second-straight year.
For the week, Hassett allowed just nine hits and an opponent batting average of .102, while striking out an amazing 52 batters in 26.0 innings pitched, an average of two strikeouts per inning. Hassett held Indiana to a total of three hits, while fanning 25 IU batters in 14.0 innings on the mound.
For the season, Hassett has struck out a career-high 278 batters in 184 1/3 innings, already surpassing her 2008 total of 276 strikeouts just two games into the conference season. Hassett leads the Big Ten in wins (18), appearances (33), games started (29), complete games (22), shutouts (12), innings pitched, and strikeouts.
SCOUTING PURDUE
The Boilermakers enter the week with an overall record of 16-8 and are tied with the Gophers with a 2-0 mark in conference games. Purdue will play two games at Bowling Green State on Thursday afternoon prior to facing the Gophers this weekend.
Purdue opened Big Ten play with a pair of home games against Wisconsin, winning Saturday’s game, 5-0, and then taking Sunday’s contest by a score of 6-0.
Sophomore right-hander Suzie Rzegocki is the team’s top hurler, with a record of 14-4 and a 1.10 earned run average. Rzegocki has surrendered just 69 hits and 18 earned runs in 114 1/3 innings, while striking out 94 and walking 33.
Offensively, junior Liane Horiuchi, a transfer from the University of Tennessee, is batting .373 (25-for-67) with 18 runs scored, 12 runs batted in, five doubles, two triples, three home runs, and 23 stolen bases. Senior Katie Mitchell leads the team with seven home runs and 15 RBI.
BARNES HAS BIG WEEK FOR GOPHERS
Sophomore first baseman Malisa Barnes had an outstanding week at the plate to help the Gophers win five of six games last week.
The Phoenix, Ariz., native batted .500 (11-for-22) with three home runs, nine runs batted in, six runs scored, and a double. She enters this weekend’s games at Purdue having hit home runs in three consecutive games, and she had a .955 slugging percentage and a .522 on-base percentage in the Gophers' six games last week.
Barnes was 4-for-4 with a solo home run and two runs scored in Minnesota’s 6-0 win against the Hoosiers to open Big Ten play, and then provided the only runs with a two-run home run to beat IU by a 2-0 score on Sunday.
Barnes, who entered last week batting .286, improved her average to .325 during the week, and she struck out just one time in the six games.
For the season, Barnes leads the Gophers in runs scored (22), hits (39), doubles (5), home runs (5), runs batted in (22), and slugging percentage (.492), while maintaining a .981 fielding percentage.
CONWAY CONNECTING
Senior third baseman Colleen Conway also was on fire at the plate last week, as she went 11-for-21 (.524) with a triple, eight runs scored, an RBI, and a stolen base in the Gophers’ six games.
Conway, who led Minnesota with a .331 average in 2008 and has started every game of her Golden Gopher career, bumped her average back over the .300 mark with her hot hitting last week.
For the season, she is batting .302 (39-for-129) with 20 runs scored, seven runs batted in, four doubles, two triples, and is 7-for-9 in stolen base attempts. Her doubles and triples figures are already career-bests.
SUDENGA SIZZLES
Sophomore shortstop Brianna Sudenga collected eight hits in 18 at bats last week for a .444 average. Sudenga also scored four runs, hit a pair of doubles, one home run, and had nine runs batted in.
Sudenga started the week by going a combined 4-for-4 with seven RBI, four runs scored, a double, and the home run in a doubleheader sweep at IUPUI on March 17. She followed that by combining to go 4-for-7 with a pair of RBI and a double in the split at Butler University on March 19. In those four games combined, Sudenga was 8-for-11 (.727).
For the season, Sudenga owns a .244 (21-for-86) batting average, with 16 runs scored, 12 runs batted in, two doubles, and a pair of home runs.
HASSETT CARRYING PITCHING STAFF
After recording the third-highest single-season strikeout total in school history last year with 276 Ks, senior right-handed pitcher Briana Hassett has already exceeded that mark in 2009.
Through Minnesota’s first 37 contests, Hassett has struck out an eye-popping 278 opposing batters in just 184 1/3 innings. An impressive 50.3 percent of the outs Hassett has been responsible for this season have come via the strikeout, and she averages 10.56 strikeouts per 7-inning game.
Hassett also has 22 complete games in 29 starts this year, and has notched complete game shutouts 12 times.
Hassett ranks among the Big Ten Conference’s leaders in the following pitching categories (through games of March 22): Strikeouts (278, 1st); strikeouts looking (68, 1st); wins (18, 1st); innings pitched (184.1, 1st); appearances (33, 1st); games started (29, 1st); opponent BA (.154, 4th); ERA (1.71, 10th).
KEEPING AN EYE ON THE CHARTS
Hassett is on pace to shatter Minnesota’s single-season record for strikeouts. With 278 Ks, and 18 regular season games remaining, Hassett needs just 34 strikeouts to break current Gopher assistant coach Piper Marten’s school-record total of 311. Hassett also needs just three more shutouts this season to break Vicki Swanson’s mark of 14, which she set during the 1978 season.
Hassett also is moving up several of Minnesota’s career pitching charts, currently ranking second for strikeouts (826) and shutouts (29), third for complete games (71), and fourth for wins (56).
COACHING MILESTONE
Minnesota’s co-head coaches Lisa Bernstein and Julie Standering coached their 1,000th game at the helm of the Gophers earlier this month at the Hillenbrand Invitational on the campus of their alma mater, the University of Arizona.
After dropping the first two games of the weekend against the nationally-ranked Wildcats, the Gophers rallied for three consecutive shutout wins. Minnesota defeated St. Joseph’s twice on March 7, with the first game against the Hawks marking their 1,000th since taking the reigns of the softball program prior to the 1992 season.
HOWARD PLAYS WELL AT LOUISVILLE
Freshman second baseman Sammie Howard had good numbers at the Courtyard by Marriott Cardinal Tournament in Louisville, Ky., March 13-15.
Howard played in four games for the Gophers, making three starts, and going four-for-eight at the plate, with three runs scored, a double, two runs batted in, four walks, and two stolen bases in two attempts.
Howard, who missed most of 2008 with an injury, is batting .224 (17-for-76) with 14 runs scored, 10 walks, and five stolen bases in 31 games this year.
