May 11, 2006
Park Ridge, Ill. - After claiming the Big Ten regular season title last weekend, Northwestern swept the league's softball postseason awards as announced by the conference office today. For the second consecutive year, Northwestern's Garland Cooper was named Big Ten Player of the Year, while teammates Eileen Canney claimed Pitcher of the Year accolades and Tammy Williams was tabbed Freshman of the Year. In addition, the Wildcats' Kate Drohan captured Coach of the Year laurels.
Cooper led the Big Ten, hitting .471 (24-for-51) while racking up 17 runs, 15 RBI and nine doubles in league contests. She also tallied a league best .625 on-base percentage and a .980 slugging percentage, while ranking second in total bases (50). The junior first baseman becomes only the fourth player in league history to nab consecutive Player of the Year laurels, joining Michigan's Patti Benedict (1992-93), Sara Griffin (1995-96) and Traci Conrad (1998-99). In addition, she is only the third Wildcat to claim top conference accolades as Brooke Siebel was honored in 2000 and Lisa Ishikawa was named the league's first-ever Player of the Year in 1985.
Northwestern's Canney became the first Wildcat hurler in school history to earn Pitcher of the Year laurels after finishing the regular season with a 20-5 record. She tallied a league-best 0.50 ERA, while allowing opponents to hit only .125 during the Big Ten season. The Paradise, Calif., native also ranked second in the conference with 134 strikeouts in 83.1 innings pitched.
Williams, a native of Roscoe, Mo., becomes the fifth Northwestern player to be named Freshman of the Year. She racked up a conference-best 20 runs scored and eight home runs in Big Ten play, while also ranking second in the league in RBI (23) and slugging percentage (.791). Williams joins teammate Canney, who was honored as the top freshman in 2004, as well as former Wildcats' Siebel (1998), Chinazo Opia (1987) and Ndidi Opia (1986).
Northwestern's Drohan earns top coaching laurels for the second straight year after leading the Wildcats to a 16-3 league mark and their first Big Ten regular season title since the 1987 season. After sharing the top honor last season, Drohan is only the second coach in program history to earn Coach of the Year honors as former NU mentor Sharon Drysdale nabbed top accolades in 1987 and 1995.
The conference office also announced honorees from each team for the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award. The student-athletes chosen are individuals who have distinguished themselves through sportsmanship and ethical behavior. In addition, the student-athletes must be in good academic standing and have demonstrated good citizenship outside of the sports-competition setting. Honorees for softball are Illinois' Molly Lawhead, Indiana's Megan Roark, Iowa's Colleen McGlaughlin, Michigan's Becky Marx, Michigan State's Dayna Feenstra, Minnesota's Lindsey Erickson, Northwestern's Sheila McCorkle, Ohio State's Nycole Koyano, Penn State's Katie Stauffer, Purdue's Becky Stone and Wisconsin's Kaitlin Reiss. These 11 student-athletes are now candidates for the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award, as the conference office will honor one male and one female student-athlete from each institution at the end of the school year.
The 2006 Big Ten Softball Tournament gets underway today through Saturday, May 13. The tournament's championship game will be aired live on CSTV at Noon CST. Visit www.bigten.org for additional tournament information.
A complete list of the 2006 Big Ten softball postseason honors follows below.
2006 ALL-BIG TEN SOFTBALL TEAMS AND POSTSEASON HONORS
FIRST TEAM
Garland Cooper, Jr., NU.............1B
Tiffany Haas, Sr., MICH.............2B
Caitlin Mahoney, So., MSU.........3B
Tammy Williams, Fr., NU............SS
Jamie Dotson, Sr., NU................C
Jenn Reynolds, So., PSU............UT
Lauren Hines, Sr., IND...............OF
*Katie Logan, Jr., NU................OF
Brittany Vanderink, So., OSU......OF
Summer Downs, So., IOWA........DP
*Jennie Ritter, Sr., MICH............P
*Eileen Canney, Jr., NU..............P
SECOND TEAM
Jenna Hall, Sr., ILL...................1B
Nycole Koyano, Jr., OSU............2B
Grace Leutele, Sr. MICH............3B
Stacy May, Sr., IOWA..............SS
Becky Marx, Sr., MICH...............C
Jamee Juarez, Jr., OSU.............UT
Megan Schwab, Jr., OSU...........OF
Danielle Kinley, Fr., PSU............OF
Katie Hnatyk, So., WIS.............OF
Jen Williams, Jr., PSU................DP
Mariangee Bogado, Sr., IND........P
Courtnay Foster, Sr., NU............P
THIRD TEAM
Samantha Findlay, So., MICH.....1B
Erin Riemersma, Fr., IOWA.........2B
Emily Nichols, So., IOWA...........3B
Billie Carder, Sr., OSU...............SS
Joey Daniels, So., WIS..............C
Ashley Esparza, So., PSU..........UT
Molly Lawhead, Jr., ILL.............OF
Mindy Heidgerken, Jr., IOWA......OF
Rebekah Milian, Jr., MICH..........OF
Kisten Martin, Jr., ILL...............DP
Brittany Weil, Fr., IOWA............P
Missy Beseres, Sr., PSU............P
PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Garland Cooper, NU
PITCHER OF THE YEAR: Eileen Canney, NU
FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR: Tammy Williams, NU
COACH OF THE YEAR: Kate Drohan, NU
2006 SPORTSMANSHIP AWARD HONOREES
Molly Lawhead, ILL
Megan Roark, IND
Colleen McGlaughlin, IOWA
Becky Marx, MICH
Dayna Feenstra, MSU
Lindsey Erickson, MINN
Sheila McCorkle, NU
Nycole Koyano, OSU
Katie Stauffer, PSU
Becky Stone, PUR
Kaitlin Reiss, WIS
* - Unanimous selection
