Northwestern University Athletics
'Cats Conclude Regular Season at Michigan State
5/6/2004 12:00:00 AM | Softball
May 6, 2004
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EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern will look to continue its record-breaking ways this weekend when it travels to Michigan State for the final two games of the regular-season slate. Six different Wildcat records have already fallen to this year's squad, and several more are within striking distance when NU takes aim at the Spartans on Saturday and Sunday, with both games beginning at noon CST.
In the past few weeks, NU has broken the individual single-season home run, RBI and walk records. The 2004 team totals in home runs and walks have also set new single-season standards while Carri Leto (El Cajon, Calif./Valhalla) recently became the school's all-time leader in being hit by a pitch.
The 'Cats enter East Lansing, Mich., coming off of a pair of split doubleheaders. Last Sunday NU divided games with No. 6 Michigan, following that performance with a split Wednesday against DePaul. The first game with the Blue Demons was Northwestern's longest of the season-an 11-inning affair in which Courtnay Foster (Tucson, Ariz./Sahuaro) threw 10 shutout innings before giving way to Eileen Canney (Paradise, Calif./Paradise), who completed the combined shutout. The second game with DePaul was cut short due to darkness.
Freshman Garland Cooper (Mission Viejo, Calif./Santa Margarita Catholic) has been unbelievable at the plate recently, currently leading the Big Ten conference in on-base percentage (.516) while placing second in batting average (.398), slugging percentage (.748) and walks (30). Foster ranks among the conference leaders in strikeouts while Canney paces the Big Ten in winning percentage with her 16-2 overall mark.
Michigan State enters this weekend 28-22 overall, 7-11 in the Big Ten. The Spartans boast the conference's best team batting average at .303, and feature the league's best hitter in Natalie Furrow (.415 average). Eight of MSU's nine regulars are currently batting over .250.
Jessica Beech handles the pitching duties almost exclusively, striking out 220 batters in 222.1 innings of work. She holds a 22-13 record with a 2.33 ERA. She has also been a bear at the plate in conference matchups, batting at a .411 clip.
