May 1, 2006
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Junior Eileen Canney (Paradise, Calif./Paradise) is pitching her best when it matters most, earning her third-consecutive Big Ten Pitcher of the Week honor and making a serious push for Big Ten Pitcher of the Year honors.
Friday against Michigan State, Canney tossed a one-hit shutout with nine strikeouts, facing the minimum number of batters after the only base runner was erased on a double play. She followed that up by entering Saturday's game against the Spartans and throwing 4.1 innings of scoreless, two-hit relief in a 9-4 come-from-behind Northwestern victory.
In the first game of a Sunday doubleheader at No. 12 Michigan, Canney won a head-to-head matchup between the two front-runners for conference Pitcher of the Year accolades, besting Jennie Ritter in a 2-1 NU win. Canney surrendered only an unearned run and struck out nine while allowing just three hits in the contest.
Northwestern's 3-1 weekend whittled its magic number to win the Big Ten title to one, with two games at Illinois concluding the conference slate this weekend. Canney leads the conference in ERA and opponent's batting average, which is an unbelievable .117 in Big Ten games.
Canney now has four Big Ten Pitcher of the Week accolades this season, best in the Big Ten. She has earned the honor seven times in her career. The Wildcats lead the conference with nine Big Ten Player/Pitcher of the Week honorees in 2006. Michigan is next highest with four.
Northwestern returns to action at 3 p.m. CT tomorrow, Tuesday, May 2, with a doubleheader at DePaul.