April 5, 2006
Northwestern's Game Notes in PDF Format
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EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern put the rest of the Big Ten Conference on notice during the opening weekend of league play, outscoring its opponents a whopping 41-6 to begin the year with a 4-0 record amidst a number of outstanding performances.
Northwestern begins the weekend with a 5 p.m. CT game Friday at Penn State. The Wildcats and Nittany Lions play again at 11 a.m. Saturday. The weekend concludes with a doubleheader beginning at 11 a.m. CT Sunday at Ohio State.
The Wildcats hit .387 as a team and unloaded a whopping 10 doubles and 11 home runs for a .794 team slugging percentage. Nearly half of Northwestern's batters reached base over the weekend (NU had a .492 on-base percentage).
Individually, junior Garland Cooper (Mission Viejo, Calif./Santa Margarita Catholic) had the best weekend of her career, batting .667 (8-for-12) with four doubles, three home runs, seven runs scored, eight RBIs, a 1.750 slugging percentage and a .714 on-base percentage. She earned her second Big Ten Player of the Week honor of the season, and also was named the ESPN.com/USA Softball National Player of the Week.
Cooper is the first Northwestern national player of the week since current senior Courtnay Foster (Tucson, Ariz./Sahuaro) earned the honor as a freshman in 2003.
Not to be outdone, freshman Tammy Williams (El Dorado Springs, Mo./Osceola) was equally as amazing. Williams batted .617 (8-for-13) with two doubles and four home runs -- including three during a Sunday doubleheader against Iowa. She scored seven runs, drove in nine and slugged 1.692.
Freshman Erin Dyer (Homer Glen, Ill./Lockport) had a great debut at Sharon J. Drysdale Field, knocking in a Northwestern single-game record eight runs while finishing a triple short of the cycle on March 31 against Wisconsin.
In the circle, junior Eileen Canney (Paradise, Calif./Paradise) threw a pair of one-hitters to lead the 'Cats.
Gametracker will be available for all games this weekend. For Northwestern's complete weekend preview and season notes, click the .pdf link at the top of this page.