University of Minnesota Athletics
Lacey Middlebrooks Earns Big Ten Honors
3/1/2010 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Park Ridge, Ill. - University of Minnesota softball freshman pitcher Lacey Middlebrooks was named Big Ten Pitcher of the Week today (Mar. 1), announced by the league office.
Middlebrooks led the Gophers to a 3-2 mark over the weekend at the Florida Gulf Coast Spring Break Invitational. Individually, she went 3-1 in the circle, pitching four complete games while allowing just one earned run. In her lone loss, Middlebrooks pitched 7.1 innings and lost a 1-0 decision with the winning run unearned.
This marks the first Big Ten honor for the freshman from Wake Village, Texas, and the first for the Golden Gophers this season. She is the first Gopher to earn Pitcher of the Week honors since Briana Hasset won the honor on March 23 of last season. On the year, Middlebrooks has earned the decision in all seven of Minnesota's wins, holding a 7-4 overall record three weeks into the season.
She began the weekend by leading the Gophers to a 3-2 win over tournament host Florida Gulf Coast, allowing two runs (one earned) on five hits. The following day, Middlebrooks led the Gophers to back-to-back wins, throwing the first complete-game shutout of her career in a 6-0 win over Connecticut. For the second straight game, she struck out five batters in her 7.0 innings of work, while also allowing no walks to Connecticut.
Her third win came in the form of a no-hitter in the rain-shortened 4-0 win over Eastern Michigan. In the abbreviated game, Middlebrooks allowed no runs on no hits with three strikeouts and just one walk. She then closed her weekend with 7.1 shutout innings against Connecticut before one unearned run in the eighth inning led to the 1-0 Gopher loss. Against UCONN, Middlebrooks struck out a career-high 11 batters while allowing just three hits.
Middlebrooks and the Gophers return to action this weekend at the Georgia Bulldog Invitational. Their trip to the Peach State begins with Kennesaw State on March 4 at 2:00 p.m. in Kennesaw, Ga. Minnesota is 7-9 on the season.
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