Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern Invades Louisiana-Lafayette For Mardi Gras
2/16/2012 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Feb. 16, 2012
Northwestern's Mardi Gras Invitational Game Notes 
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Le violet is one of the official colors of Mardi Gras, and Northwestern hopes to represent well Feb. 17-18 at the Mardi Gras Invitational hosted by Louisiana-Lafayette.
The Wildcats begin their second tournament of 2012 against the host No. 20 Cajuns at 2 p.m. CT Friday, Feb. 17, before taking on Louisiana Tech immediately after. On Saturday, Northwestern plays UTEP (11 a.m. CT) and North Carolina (6 p.m. CT), then it concludes the event at 8:30 a.m. CT Sunday versus Northwestern State.
All of Northwestern's Friday and Saturday games will be held at Louisiana-Lafayette's Lamson Park, while NU's Sunday contest versus Northwestern State will be offsite at Field #2. Home and away teams will not be determined until 30 minutes prior to the start of each game.
Northwestern is coming off a 2-3 season-opening Kajikawa Classic in which it knocked off No. 17 Texas A&M while suffering defeats to then-No. 1 Arizona State, then-No. 12 Washington and currently undefeated New Mexico. As a result of its tough schedule and performance, NU received eight more votes in the USA Today/NFCA coaches poll this week than it did in the preseason.
Senior Adrienne Monka received good news Wednesday when she was named one of 30 candidates for the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award, which honors senior student-athletes for excelling on and off the field of competition. Monka certainly excelled on the field last weekend, hitting .455 and driving in seven with the help of three home runs. Junior Emily Allard ran her current hitting streak to eight games dating to last season, currently batting .400 in 2012.
Northwestern will see a familiar face in the opposing dugout Saturday night against North Carolina. Three-time All-Big Ten selection and 2011 NU graduate Michelle Batts currently is a volunteer assistant coach for the Tarheels. Though Batts was raised in the Chicago suburbs, her family originally hails from North Carolina.
NU showcased power in its season-opening tournament of the year when six different 'Cats cranked nine home runs -- 36 percent of NU's entire homer total in 2011.
For Northwestern's complete Mardi Gras Invitational Game Notes package, download the .pdf at the top of this page.
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