Northwestern University Athletics
Five Wildcats Earn All-Big Ten Honors
5/12/2004 12:00:00 AM | Softball
May 12, 2004
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EVANSTON, Ill. -- Pitcher Eileen Canney has been named the Big Ten's 2004 Freshman of Year, and joins four other Wildcats in earning All-Big Ten honors. Junior Erin Mobley and freshman Garland Cooper were named to the conference's First Team while Canney, senior Carri Leto and sophomore Kristen Amegin earned Second-team All-Big Ten nods.
Canney becomes the fifth Wildcat to earn Freshman of the Year honors and the first NU pitcher to do so since Chinazo Opia in 1987. Lisa Ishikawa (1984), Ndidi Opia (1986) and Brooke Siebel (1998) were also named Big Ten Freshman of the Year for NU. The 'Cats garnered eight All-Big Ten nods last season, including five second-team and two third-team selections.
Canney holds a 17-2 overall record, including a perfect 9-0 conference mark. She posted a 1.58 ERA in 70.2 innings of work in Big Ten play, recording 88 strikeouts for an average of 1.2 whiffs per inning. She has 170 strikeouts in 143.2 innings overall for the season.
Mobley was named to the First-team All-Big Ten squad for the second consecutive season. She currently ranks 10th in the conference in batting average and seventh in on-base percentage for the year. She leads Northwestern in hits and is second in batting average.
Cooper, a leading candidate for Freshman of the Year as well as Player of the Year, paces the Big Ten in on-base percentage and intentional walks and is second in batting average, slugging percentage, home runs and walks. She also ranks third in RBIs; remarkable numbers considering Northwestern has played five fewer games than any other team in the conference and 11 fewer games than the Big Ten regular season champion, Michigan.
The designated player has broken NU's single-season home run and RBI records and is on pace to shatter the school marks for slugging and on-base percentage in her first year as a Wildcat.
Leto was named Second-team All-Big Ten for the third consecutive year. NU's captain and defensive leader is currently riding a 13-game hitting streak and has hit safely in 22 of Northwestern's last 24 games. She currently ranks in the top seven all-time in 10 different offensive categories at NU.
Amegin broke the school's home run record earlier this year against Indiana before Cooper staked her claim to the mark. The third-baseman currently leads the Big Ten in walks and holds the NU single-season record in the category. She ranks second on the team in home runs, slugging percentage and on-base percentage.
Northwestern finished the regular season 31-17 overall, 12-8 in the Big Ten and earned the No. 4 seed in the conference tournament. The Wildcats will face No. 5 Minnesota at 1:30 CDT Friday in Ann Arbor, Mich.
