University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Open Home Slate With #17 Ohio State
3/31/2009 12:00:00 AM | Softball
GOPHERS OPEN HOME SCHEDULE AGAINST NATIONALLY-RANKED OHIO STATE
Minnesota is scheduled to play its first games at Jane Sage Cowles Stadium this weekend when the Golden Gophers face 17th-ranked Ohio State on Saturday and Sunday (April 4-5) at 1 p.m. (CT). The Gophers are 20-19 overall and tied with the Buckeyes at 3-1 in Big Ten play following a split of their conference series at Purdue over the weekend. Minnesota posted a come-from-behind 6-4 win over the Boilers on Saturday, before losing its first conference game by a score of 2-1 on Sunday. Minnesota holds a 55-34 lead in the series with Ohio State. The Gophers own a mark of 53-30 in regular season contests, while OSU has a slim 4-2 advantage in non-conference or tournament games.
A TOUGH STRETCH
This weekend’s games versus Ohio State are the first of four-straight home games for the Gophers, and kick off a stretch of six-straight contests against nationally-ranked opponents. After the games with the Buckeyes, Minnesota will play host to 8th-ranked Northwestern for a 2:00 p.m. doubleheader on Wednesday (April 8), before it heads to Ann Arbor on Easter weekend for a pair of games with #10 Michigan. The twinbill with Northwestern will be televised live on Big Ten Network, with Marney Gellner and Eileen Canney calling the action, and former Gopher women’s basketball standout Leslie Hill doing sideline reports.
SCOUTING OHIO STATE
The Buckeyes are 24-6 overall and 3-1 in the Big Ten after splitting a pair of home games with Iowa over the weekend. OSU won Saturday’s game, 3-0, but the Hawkeyes recorded a convincing 12-4 win in six innings Sunday afternoon. Ohio State is scheduled to play a home doubleheader against Ball State on Wednesday (April 1), prior to this weekend’s games in the Twin Cities. The Buckeyes have a pair of reliable pitchers in senior right-hander Kim Reeder and junior righty Lindsay Bodeker. Reeder sports a 12-3 record to go with a 0.94 ERA, while striking out 107 and walking just 22 in 89.2 innings. Bodeker is 8-3 with a 1.58 ERA, and has struck out 87 batters in 66.1 innings. Offensively, junior catcher Sam Marder has been tough on opposing pitchers, batting .395 (30-for-76) with 29 RBI and 24 runs scored, while leading the Big Ten with 12 home runs. The Buckeyes have six players with three or more home runs this season, and have hit a team total of 37 homers, while allowing just six round-trippers.
BARNES’ HITTING STREAK AT EIGHT GAMES
Sophomore first baseman Malisa Barnes helped the Gophers earn a split at Purdue over the weekend, while stretching her career-best hitting streak to eight games. The Phoenix, Ariz., native batted .429 (3-for-7) at Purdue with two runs scored and an RBI. She drove in the game-winning run on Saturday against the Boilers with a one-out single in the sixth inning. During her streak, she is batting .483 (14-for-29) with 10 RBI, eight runs scored, three home runs, and a double, while striking out just one time. For the season, Barnes leads the Gophers in batting average (.331), runs scored (24), hits (42), home runs (5), runs batted in (23), and slugging percentage (.488), all while maintaining a .982 fielding percentage.
HASSETT LEADS NATION IN STRIKEOUTS
Senior right-handed pitcher Briana Hassett continues to lead NCAA Division I softball in strikeouts, according to stats released by the NCAA this week. Through games of March 29, Hassett has struck out a career-high 291 batters, well ahead of Washington’s Danielle Lawrie, who ranks second with 242 strikeouts. The remainder of the Top 10 includes Ashlyn Williams, Troy (231); Whitney Canion, Baylor (228); Morgan Melloh, Fresno State (223); Danielle Spaulding, North Carolina (219); Lauren Delaney, Northwestern (196); Missy Penna, Stanford (193); Chanda Bell, Kentucky (182); and Brittany Weil, Iowa (182). In addition, Hassett was tied for second with 12 shutouts, tied for fourth with 18 victories, and ranked 11th for strikeouts per seven-innings (10.32).
CONWAY CONNECTING
Senior third baseman Colleen Conway, who led Minnesota with a .331 average in 2008 and has started every game of her Golden Gopher career, is batting .296 (40-for-135) with 21 runs scored, seven runs batted in, four doubles, two triples, and has stolen eight bases in 10 attempts.
GETTING DEFENSIVE
Not surprisingly, senior catcher Shannon Stemper leads the Big Ten in putouts with 347, which is 75 more than the runner-up in the category. As a team, the Gophers lead the Big Ten with 330 strikeouts, to account for the vast majority of Stemper’s total. Senior third baseman Colleen Conway also leads the Big Ten in a defensive category, and by a wide margin. Conway has recorded 86 assists from the hot corner, which is 19 more the the player ranked second in the category. In addition to her 347 putouts, Stemper has 10 assists and only two errors behind the plate, which adds up to an impressive .994 fielding percentage. Conway has just six errors at one of the toughest positions to field, especially in softball, for a .949 percentage in the field.
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. In 35 appearances totaling 197 1/3 innings, Hassett has struck out an eye-popping 291 batters. An impressive 49.2 percent of the outs Hassett has been responsible for this season have come via the strikeout, and she currently averages 10.32 strikeouts per 7-inning game. Hassett also has 24 complete games in 31 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 at the start of the week (through games of March 29):
Category - Hassett's total (Big Ten rank)
Strikeouts - 291 (1st)
Strikeouts Looking - 73 (1st)
Wins - 19 (1st)
Innings Pitched - 197.1 (1st)
Appearances - 35 (1st)
Games Started - 31 (1st)
Opponent BA - .159 (4th)
ERA - 1.77 (9th)
SUDENGA SIZZLES
Despite being limited to just one hit at Purdue, sophomore shortstop Brianna Sudenga is batting .391 (9-for-23) over her past eight games, with four runs scored, 10 runs batted in, a pair of doubles, and a home run. For the season, Sudenga owns a .242 (22-for-91) batting average, with 16 runs scored, 13 runs batted in, two doubles, and a pair of home runs. She went 1-for-2 with an RBI and a walk during Sunday’s 2-1 setback at Purdue.
KEEPING AN EYE ON THE CHARTS
Hassett is on pace to shatter Minnesota’s single-season record for strikeouts. With 291 Ks, and 16 regular season games remaining, Hassett needs just 21 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 Swanson set during the 1978 season. Hassett also is moving up several of Minnesota’s career pitching charts, currently ranking second for strikeouts (839) and shutouts (29), third for complete games (73), and fourth for wins (57).
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. 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.
