Northwestern University Athletics
Adrienne Monka Named All-America First Team Selection
6/1/2011 12:00:00 AM | Softball
June 1, 2011
Complete 2011 Louisville Slugger/NFCA All-America Award List (PDF Format) 
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern junior Adrienne Monka (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif./Rancho Cucamonga) has been named a Louisville Slugger/NFCA All-America first team selection, announced today by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA).
Monka's award is the second of her career and marks the eighth first-team All-America accolade for Northwestern as a program. Monka also was a first-teamer as a freshman in 2009. She is the third Wildcat in NU history to earn multiple All-America first-team selections, joining Lisa Ishikawa (1984-85) and Tammy Williams (2007-09).
NU has had an All-American in six of the last seven seasons, earning 13 awards in that time span. The last five of those honors all have been of the first-team variety.
This year, Monka did enough damage with her bat to earn more respect at the plate than nearly any other player in NCAA Division I single-season history. Monka ranked sixth in the nation with a .461 batting average, eighth with an .865 slugging percentage and 20th with 1.09 runs batted in per game, finishing with 10 homers and 47 RBIs total.
What's so impressive about those numbers is she racked them up in just 89 total at-bats. Monka was so feared at the plate, she walked a school-record 66 times for a 1.53 per-game rate: the second highest rate in NCAA Division I history. Her .707 on-base percentage, which led the nation by .090 points after the regular season, is unofficially just the second in NCAA DI history over .700. Monka drew 12 intentional walks -- all in Big Ten Conference play.
Monka was featured as a Sports Illustrated Face in the Crowd in its May 30, 2011, issue after a streak of 25-straight plate appearances in which she reached base. The stretch lasted from April 16 to May 4 of this year and was comprised of seven hits, 17 walks and one hit-by-pitch. She also earned Big Ten and NFCA Division I National Player of the Week kudos during that streak.
While primarily known for offense, Monka has been a defensive stalwart for Northwestern as well. Starting every game at first base in the last two seasons, Monka put together her second-straight error-less season this year. Making both the routine play and successfully digging throws out of the dirt, Monka made good on 276 chances without a miscue. In fact, Monka has not committed an error since May 8, 2009, of her freshman season -- a string of 94 games and 600 chances.
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