April 3, 2006
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Garland Cooper (Mission Viejo, Calif./Santa Margarita Catholic) has earned USA Softball National Collegiate Player of the Week honors after putting on a hitting clinic last weekend against Wisconsin and Iowa. She was also named the Big Ten Player of the Week for her efforts.
The junior batted .671 (8-of-12), slugged an unnatural 1.750, recorded a .714 on-base percentage while slamming four doubles and three home runs with seven runs scored and eight RBIs to help push Northwestern to a 4-0 Big Ten start.
Cooper began the weekend with two doubles Friday against the Badgers, driving in two runs and scoring twice. She then launched two home runs and a double to drive in a career-best five and score three times Saturday against Wisconsin.
In Sunday's doubleheader versus Iowa, the reigning Big Ten Player of the Year blasted a solo home run in Northwestern's 3-1 victory in game one. She then went 2-for-3 with a double and a run scored in the nightcap.
Interestingly, in the first three games of the weekend, Cooper did not record a hit in her first at-bats of those contests. In every subsequent at-bat in those games, she clubbed either a double or a home run.
Cooper now is Northwestern's career leader in doubles with 42 and has a team-best 13-game hitting streak.
It is the first time she has been named the National Player of the Week. The conference honor is the second of the season for Cooper and the third of her career. Northwestern has won a league-best five Big Ten weekly awards in 2006.