Adrienne Monka continues to lead the Big Ten and the nation in on-base percentage and walks.Adrienne Monka continues to lead the Big Ten and the nation in on-base percentage and walks.

Wildcat Alley, Big Ten Network Broadcast Highlight Series With Ohio State

April 21, 2011

Northwestern's Ohio State Series Game Notes (PDF Format) Get Acrobat Reader

EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern celebrates Easter weekend this weekend with a home series against Ohio State. Come out to the park early Saturday for a special spring edition of the family-friendly Wildcat Alley, featuring games, food, face painting and an Easter Egg Hunt for children of all ages!

Saturday's Wildcat Alley on the north grass football practice field begins at 11:30 a.m. with first pitch between Northwestern and Ohio State scheduled for 1 p.m. Sunday's game has been moved back to a 2 p.m. CT start to accommodate a live television broadcast on the Big Ten Network.

As always, Wildcat Alley and Northwestern softball games are free of charge. Saturday is the Chipotle BIG GAME, with free burrito coupons distributed to the first 50 students.

SCHEDULE UPDATE: Northwestern's postponed game against UIC has been re-scheduled for 6:30 p.m. CT Monday, April 25, in Chicago.

NU's offense so far this season would be worth any price of admission to watch. The Wildcats currently are batting .317 as a team -- on pace to blow away the current school record of .294 set in 2009. Seven Wildcats are batting better than .255 at this moment while three are hitting at a .388 or better clip.

There is average: Emily Allard (.492) and Adrienne Monka (.487) rank 1-2 in the Big Ten in batting and 6-7 in the nation in the same category. In NU's last 15 games, Robin Thompson is hitting .500 while Jordan Wheeler is on a 10-game hitting streak, during which she is batting .452.

There is power: Monka leads the Big Ten with an .897 slugging percentage. She and Michelle Batts have combined for 16 home runs this year, driving in 71 runs between them.

There is speed: Allard leads the nation with 1.03 stolen bases per game (34 total) while Thompson is 14-for-14 on the base paths, ranking her fifth in school history with 71 career steals. As a team, NU is 71-for-77 in steal attempts, good for a .922 conversion rate.

There is patience: Monka leads the nation by an .048 margin with her .683 on-base percentage and is first with 1.21 walks per game. NU leads the Big Ten with a .426 team OBP.

(For Northwestern's complete Ohio State series game notes package, download the .pdf at the top of this page.

THE BROADCAST

Sunday, April 24: Dan Kelly will handle play-by-play duties while Stacey Phillips will provide commentary on the Big Ten Network. Stay tuned after the game for four-time NU All-American Tammy Williams during the Big Ten Diamond Report!

SCHARK BYTES BLOG

Don't miss out on the best student-athlete blog on the internet today! Be sure to read sophomore Kristin Scharkey's Schark Bytes blog!

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