University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Wrap Up Season at Iowa
5/8/2009 12:00:00 AM | Softball
MINNESOTA WRAPS UP SEASON AT IOWA
Minnesota wraps up its 2009 season when the Gophers travel to Iowa City, Iowa, for a pair of games versus the Iowa Hawkeyes this weekend. Friday’s first pitch is set for 6:00 p.m. at Pearl Field, while Saturday’s game is slated for 2:00 p.m. The Golden Gophers are 23-30 overall and are eighth in the Big Ten with a mark of 6-12 after losing both games versus Illinois last weekend. Minnesota lost by a score of 5-4 on Saturday, before falling to the Illini by a score of 2-1 in eight innings on Senior Day.
Senior pitcher Briana Hassett combined for 13 strikeouts against Illinois, pushing her school-record total to 401 Ks this season. Hassett also recorded another pair of complete games, giving her school-record totals of 37 this season and 86 for her career. A right-hander from Eagan, Minn., Hassett also leads NCAA Division I softball in strikeouts. Her total currently ranks fifth in Big Ten history, and she is one of only four Big Ten pitchers to have recorded 400 or more Ks in a season.
Minnesota trails 51-36 in the all-time series with Iowa. The Golden Gophers are 26-45 in regular season contests, but are 10-6 in non-conference and tournament games between the schools. Last year in Iowa City, the teams played a doubleheader on April 20, with Iowa winning the first game by a score of 2-0, but the Gophers countering with a 1-0 win in the nightcap, which lasted 13 innings.
Interestingly, the games this weekend will make it eight-straight in the series played at Iowa’s Pearl Field. The teams were scheduled to play two games in Minneapolis during 2007, but they were canceled due to weather. So not a single member of the current Hawkeyes’ roster has played a Big Ten game at Minnesota’s Jane Sage Cowles Stadium.
MINNESOTA’S TOUGH ROAD
Minnesota’s 23-30 record is deceptive, as the Golden Gophers have played 12 games against teams ranked in this week’s USA Today/NFCA and ESPN.com/USA Softball Top 25 polls. Minnesota is 2-10 in those games, but owns an 8-3 win against #12/13 Northwestern, has taken two Top 25 teams (#6/8 Michigan and #17/18 Louisville) to extra innings, and dropped a pair of 1-0 decisions versus #10/11 Ohio State. The Golden Gophers also own a 10-0 win against Florida Gulf Coast (47-9), which is receving votes in one of the polls.
In addition, the Gophers have played a total of 26 contests against teams listed among this week’s Top 100 RPI. Minnesota is 1-9 versus the Top 25, 3-3 against teams between #26-50, and 4-6 against teams between #51-100.
BARNES LEADS MINNESOTA OFFENSE
Sophomore first baseman Malisa Barnes had a career-long 11-game hitting streak earlier this season, and has been leading the Golden Gophers on offense for most of the year. During her streak (March 17-April 8), the native of Phoenix, Ariz., batted .500 (18-for-36) with 11 RBI, eight runs scored, three home runs, and a double, while striking out just three times.
For the season, Barnes is batting .333 (55-for-165), with team-leading totals for runs scored (25), hits (55), home runs (5), doubles (7), runs batted in (26), on base percentage (.418), and slugging percentage (.467), all while maintaining a .987 fielding percentage. Barnes also has been intentionally walked five times this year. In Big Ten play, Barnes is batting a solid .404 (21-for-52), with seven RBI, six runs scored, two home runs, two doubles, a .558 slugging percentage, and a .508 on base percentage.
HASSETT LEADS NATION IN STRIKEOUTS
Senior right-handed pitcher Briana Hassett leads NCAA Division I softball in strikeouts, according to stats released by the NCAA Tuesday afternoon.
In updated stats, through games of May 7, Hassett holds a slim lead with a career-high 401 Ks to rank ahead of Fresno State’s Morgan Melloh, who’s second with 387 strikeouts.
The remainder of the Top 10 includes Whitney Canion, Baylor (376); Danielle Lawrie, Washington (371); Kylie Reynolds, Kent State (326); Missy Penna, Stanford (310); Brittany Weil, Iowa (308); Danielle Spaulding, North Carolina (307); Ashlyn Williams, Troy (307); and Lauren Delaney, Northwestern (292).
In addition, Hassett was sixth for shutouts, 15th for strikeouts per seven innings, and tied for 25th for victories.
CONWAY ON A ROLL
Senior Colleen Conway, who led Minnesota with a .331 average in 2008 and has started every game of her Golden Gopher career, stretched her hitting streak to eight games by going 2-for-4 in Saturday’s loss to Illinois, but was held hitless on Sunday to snap the streak, which was the second-longest for the Gophers this season. Conway, who has hit safely in 10 of the last 12 games overall, batted .323 (10-for-31) during the eight-game streak
For the season, she is second on the team with a .284 (52-for-183) batting average, has scored 25 runs, driven in seven runs, while hitting five doubles, two triples, and stealing eight bases in 12 attempts. She has started the past 14 games at shortstop for the Gophers.
HASSETT, CONT.
In 49 appearances totaling 295 innings, Hassett has struck out a school-record 401 batters. An impressive 45.3 percent of the outs Hassett has been responsible for this season have come via the strikeout, and she currently averages 9.52 Ks per seven-inning game. In Big Ten games, Hassett is 6-12 with a 1.80 ERA and 148 strikeouts in 124.2 IP. She has limited opponents to just 39 runs (32 earned) in Minnesota’s 16 conference games this season, an average of just 2.2 runs allowed per game. As a whole, the other 10 Big Ten opponents score an average of 4.3 runs per game. Hassett also has a single-season school record 37 complete games in 45 starts this year, and has notched 14 shutouts.
She ranks among the Big Ten’s leaders in the following categories (through games of May 6): Strikeouts (401, 1st); Strikeouts Looking (106, 1st); Innings Pitched (295.0, 1st); Appearances (49, 1st); Games Started (45, 1st); Opponent BA (.182, 4th); Wins (22, Tie-5th); ERA (1.83, 7th).
KEEPING AN EYE ON THE CHARTS
Hassett already has established single-season school records for strikeouts (401), complete games (37), and shutouts (14, tied), while setting a record for career complete games (86) last weekend. has the potential to make her mark on several other categories this season. With a shutout in the first game at Wisconsin (April 22), Hassett tied Vicki Swanson’s single-season school record of 14, which was set during the 1978 season.
In addition, Hassett is moving up several of Minnesota’s career pitching charts, currently ranking second for strikeouts (949) and shutouts (31), fourth for innings pitched (765.0), and fifth for wins (60). With two complete games versus the Illini, Hassett broke Minnesota pitching coach Piper Marten’s school-record total of 85. And, though it’s a tough task, two shutouts versus the Hawkeyes this weekend would not only break Swanson’s single-season mark, it would tie Marten’s career record of 33.
PITCHING AND DEFENSE WIN GAMES
Not surprisingly, senior catcher Shannon Stemper leads the Big Ten with 464 putouts, which is 16 more than the runner-up in the category. As a team, the Gophers rank second in the Big Ten with 441 Ks, to account for the vast majority of Stemper’s total. Senior Colleen Conway also leads the Big Ten in a defensive category. Conway has 103 assists while playing third base and shortstop, which is three more than the runner-up in that category.
In addition to her 464 putouts, Stemper has 17 assists and just five errors behind the plate, which adds up to an impressive .990 fielding percentage. More impressively, Stemper has recorded 1,208 putouts, 53 assists, and just eight errors during her career, for a .994 percentage in 163 career games.
As a team, Minnesota has played flawless defense in six of its past 10 games, and the Gophers are 14-10 this season in errorless games.
DALEN THRIVES IN THE CLUTCH, PART II
Senior right fielder Katie Dalen has come through with a clutch single in the eighth inning to drive in the game-winning run for the Gophers not once, but twice, this season. Her most recent game-winning hit came in the eighth frame of the nightcap versus Penn State on April 18. With the game scoreless, and two outs, Dalen blooped a single in front of the Nittany Lions’ left fielder to score pinch runner Chonquita Jones with the winning run. Earlier this season, Dalen came off the bench to drive in the winning run with a single to right field against Creighton. Interestingly, the final score of both games was 1-0.
Dalen, who has started eight of the past 11 games in right field, is batting .167 (13-for-78) with six runs batted in, five runs scored, and three doubles this season.
GOLDEN GOPHER, GOLDEN VOICE & WHEELS
Junior utility player Chonquita Jones dazzled those in attendance with her beautiful renditions of the National Anthem before every Minnesota home game this season. But April 18, it was Jones’ speed that helped the Gophers earn a split with Penn State at Jane Sage Cowles Stadium.
Jones, who has appeared in seven games this season -- all as a pinch runner -- came into the second game versus the Nittany Lions after junior left fielder Heidi Carls had reached base on a two-out single to right center in the bottom of the eighth. The speedy Jones then proceeded to steal second base for the first stolen base of her career, and a few minutes later, scored the winning run for the Gophers by beating the throw to the plate after Katie Dalen singled to short left field.
SCOUTING IOWA
The Hawkeyes enter this weekend’s games on the heels of Wednesday’s sweep of Wisconsin, following a pair of losses versus nationally-ranked Michigan last weekend. Against Michigan, Iowa lost by scores of 2-1 and 6-0. Wednesday, the Hawkeyes beat the Badgers, 8-0, in five innings before escaping with a 5-4 win in nine innings in the nightcap.
Like the Gophers, Iowa relies primarily on one pitcher, as senior Brittany Weil has pitched a total of 222.2 innings for the Hawkeyes this season. Weil is 24-10 with a 1.13 ERA, 23 complete games, 12 shutouts, and 308 strikeouts. Offensively, senior Colleen McGlaughlin leads the team with a .367 (61-for-166) batting average, 49 runs batted in, 14 doubles, and 10 home runs.
As a team, Iowa has 66 doubles, 14 triples, and 35 home runs this season, while scoring 272 runs in 54 games for an average of 5.0 runs per game.
