Feb. 18, 2009
Northwestern's Cathedral City Classic Notes (PDF Format) 
Cathedral City Classic Tournament Page
EVANSTON, Ill. -- No. 12 Northwestern along with the best and brightest college softball has to offer assemble this weekend, February 20-22, at Big League Dreams Sports Park in Cathedral City, Calif., for the 32-team Cathedral City Classic, showcasing 13 of the nation's top-25 ranked programs.
Annually one of the top college tournaments on softball's schedule, the 2009 Cathedral City Classic has expanded to its largest field to date, boasting eight of the nation's current top-10 teams. NU will face a pair of ranked foes in No. 3 Arizona State and No. 14 Fresno State.
The Wildcats' schedule kicks off at noon CT Friday, Feb. 20 against host Oregon State before it continues at 2:30 p.m. CT Friday versus the defending national champion Sun Devils. On Saturday, NU takes on Long Island at noon CT followed by its tilt with the Bulldogs at 2:30 p.m. CT. All of NU's Friday and Saturday games will be played at Fenway Field. Northwestern's Sunday contest is a 10 a.m. CT (8 a.m. local) meeting with Nebraska at Wrigley Field.
Northwestern has made four previous trips to the Cathedral City Classic (formerly the Palm Springs Classic), earning a combined 13-6 record. The Wildcats went 4-1 at the tournament in 2005 and 2007, earning wins over 2009 Classic opponents Oregon State and Arizona State in 2007.
The Wildcats' offense enters the weekend on an absolute tear after hitting .378, blasting 13 home runs and scoring 41 times in five games at the Louisville Slugger Desert Classic in Las Vegas. Northwestern currently ranks first among Big Ten teams in batting average, slugging percentage, on-base percentage and home runs.
Senior Erin Dyer (Homer Glen, Ill./Lockport) had a monstrous Desert Classic, driving in 11 runs and hitting three homers to give her a Big Ten-best 15 RBIs and five home runs in nine games. Freshman Adrienne Monka (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif./Rancho Cucamonga) is coming off a breakout weekend, earning Big Ten Player of the Week honors after batting .571 with a 1.571 slugging percentage in Vegas. Monka clubbed the first four home runs of her career.
Tammy Williams (Roscoe, Mo./Osceola) and Robin Thompson (Detroit, Mich./Martin Luther King) are batting better than .400 in the early part of 2009, with both scoring eight runs in Northwestern's five games last weekend. Williams enters the Cathedral City Classic two runs short of 200 for her career and five hits shy of Garland Cooper's Northwestern career record of 265.
Williams was selected by the Chicago Bandits in the second round of the National Professional Fastpitch (NPF) senior draft on Tuesday, Feb. 17, making her the fifth Wildcat to be drafted by the league.