Adrienne Monka is the first Big Ten student-athlete to earn NFCA National Player of the Week honors this season.Adrienne Monka is the first Big Ten student-athlete to earn NFCA National Player of the Week honors this season.

Monka Named NFCA National Player of the Week; NU Travels to Purdue

April 26, 2011

Northwestern's Purdue Series Notes (PDF Format) Get Acrobat Reader

EVANSTON, Ill. -- Fresh off a resounding sweep of Ohio State last weekend, Northwestern hits the road for a pair of Big Ten series this week, beginning with a Wednesday, April 27, doubleheader at Purdue.

First pitch of the double-dip is at 2 p.m. CT Wednesday. After that contest, NU will head to Illinois for a weekend series April 30-May 1. Saturday's game time has been moved back to 5 p.m. CT to accommodate a live broadcast on the Big Ten Network. It originally was scheduled for 2 p.m. CT.

The Wildcats garnered several awards this week after outscoring the Buckeyes 26-2 at Sharon J. Drysdale Field. Junior Adrienne Monka was named both the Big Ten and the NFCA Division I National Player of the Week after driving in seven runs on a 3-for-3 performance at the plate with five walks. Monka is the first Big Ten student-athlete to win the NFCA national weekly honor this season.

Dating to April 16, Monka has reached base in 14-straight plate appearances, recording hits in her last seven-consecutive official at-bats. She's batting .609 during a current nine-game hitting streak.

Freshman Marisa Bast was tabbed the Big Ten Freshman of the Week after batting .800 with a solo home run and four RBIs against Ohio State. Bast is hitting .448 in her last 10 games played.

Jessica Smith went un-honored this week, but that does not take away from a great performance in the circle for the senior. Smith first threw a 5.0-inning, complete-game three-hit shutout on Saturday against Ohio State before earning a save in game two Sunday. She entered that contest with NU on top 4-2, striking out a batter to end a bases-loaded threat before closing the door in the subsequent inning (after NU had added eight runs to its tally).

As a team, Northwestern has raised its batting average this year to .324, on pace to annihilate the current school record of .294 set in 2009. That batting average has helped NU score 6.11 runs per game, 17th best in the nation.

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

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! A new entry this week deals with the earthquake in Japan through the eyes of former members of the NU program who are signed to play professionally in the country this year.

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