Northwestern University Athletics
Courtnay Foster Named Big Ten Pitcher of the Week
5/8/2006 12:00:00 AM | Softball
May 8, 2006
EVANSTON, Ill. -- In her final regular-season weekend, senior Courtnay Foster (Tucson, Ariz./Sahuaro) picked up Big Ten Pitcher of the Week honors for the sixth time in her career after helping Northwestern to its first Big Ten title since 1987.
Foster was named Pitcher of the Week after tallying a 2-0 record and a 0.50 ERA last week. In a midweek game Tuesday at DePaul, she held the Blue Demons to just three hits, while striking out seven for the 3-1 win.
She then pitched a gem in her final career regular-season outing, throwing a three-hit shutout while fanning nine batters at Illinois to pick up her 20th win of the season. Foster's nine K's gave her 204 on year, making her just the second Wildcat to strikeout 200 batters in all four seasons at Northwestern (The other was Lisa Ishikawa (1984-1987)).
Foster and junior Eileen Canney (Paradise, Calif./Paradise) now have combined to win the last four Big Ten Pitcher on the Week honors -- fitting, considering they both have 20 wins on the year to give the Wildcats two 20-game winners in one season for the first time in program history.
Foster's Big Ten Pitcher of the Week honor is her sixth. She was honored twice in 2003 (March 3 and May 5) and 2004 (Feb. 12 and April 19), and once during the 2005 season (March 1).
Northwestern as a team earned 10 Big Ten Player/Pitcher of the Week awards in 2006, far and away the most in school history. The Wildcats doubled the total honors of the next highest school (Michigan, 5) this year.
