Click here for printer-friendly (PDF) version of release
BAY CITY, Mich. - Wayne State University sophomore second baseman Nikki Fulton (Stratford, Ont./St. Michael Catholic) and Hillsdale College pitcher Laura Homan (Celina, Ohio) have been chosen as the GLIAC Softball "Player of the Week" and "Pitcher of the Week", respectively.
GLIAC Softball Player of the Week:
Nikki Fulton
Wayne State
Sophomore, 2B, R/R
Stratford, Ont./St. Michael Catholic
WSU sophomore 2B Nikki Fulton helped the Warriors to a 3-1
series win over league-leading Ohio Dominican last weekend. After
going 1-for-3 in the series opener, Fulton set a WSU record with
five hits in Saturday’s nightcap. She had a hit in
eight consecutive at bats starting with her final bat of game 1,
through her first two at bats of game 3. Fulton had five
doubles on the weekend and scored a team-best nine runs.
Fulton also had eight RBI with a slugging percentage of 1.059.
Softball Player Weekly
Honor Roll: Cayla Seidler - AU, Amy Dunleavy - FS,
Brittany Dauterman - UF, Emily Jones - GV, Jessica Guertin - HC,
Juliana Brotzman - LE, Haleigh Edgar - LS, Sam Zaborowski - NU,
Erin Sutter - OD, Jordan Randall - SV, Amanda Temple - TU.
2012 "Players of the Week": (3/13) Briauna
Taylor - GV; (3/19) Stephanie Foreman - WS; (3/26) Alyssa Kelley -
AU; (4/2) Nikki Fulton - WS.
GLIAC Softball Pitcher of
the Week:
Laura Homan
Hillsdale
Senior, Pitcher. L/R
Celina, Ohio
Senior pitcher Laura Homan had the
finest week of her career, recording three complete-game shutouts,
highlighted by a no-hitter against Lake Superior State Sunday
afternoon. Earlier in the week, she threw a two-hit shutout versus
the Lakers, and had a mercy-shortened shutout over Spring Arbor
Wednesday. For the week, Homan pitched 20 ½ innings without
allowing a run, and struck out 14 batters against just two walks in
helping to lead Hillsdale to its best start in nine years.
Softball Pitcher Weekly Honor Roll: Emlyn Knerem - AU, Dana Bowler - FS, Andrea Nicholson - GV, Dawn Ondercin - LE, Catie Kaliszuk - NU, Jillian Williamson - SV, Abbey Cooksey - TU, Sam Cain - WS.
2012 "Pitchers of the
Week": (3/13) Emlyn Knerem - AU; (3/19) Andrea
Nicholson - GV;
(3/26) Rachel Stanzel - OD; (4/2) Laura Homan - HC.
Ashland Eagles
The Eagles begin this week with
wins in 19 of their last 21 games. The losses during this stretch
came to Northwood and Findlay. When AU fell in the second
game of a doubleheader Sunday at Findlay, it ended a nine-game
winning streak. AU’s longest win streak this season is 10
games…senior pitcher Emlyn Knerem (Brunswick, Ohio) went 3-0
last week with a 0.37 ERA and is now the program’s career
leader with 84 wins …sophomore 2B Cayla Seidler
(Massillon, Ohio/Massillon Washington) hit .556 last week with two
homers, two doubles, six RBI and a slugging percentage of 1.000 and
an on-base percentage of .652. Seidler had the game-winning
RBI in both games of a sweep of Tiffin. She is hitting .329 this
season …freshman Jerrica Young (Loudonville, Ohio) also had
a big week last week, hitting .350 and driving in seven runs. Of
Young’s 28 hits, 12 (six doubles, four homers, two triples)
have gone for extra bases…senior third baseman Alyssa Kelley
(Mentor, Ohio) is hitting a team-high .457. Kelley has 18 multi-hit
games this season and she owns the longest hitting streak (16
games) on the team in 2012…Ashland has five players hitting
.315 or higher.
Ferris State Bulldogs
FSU ended its weekend on a winning
note as the Bulldogs pulled out a victory in the nightcap to split
a GLIAC doubleheader against rival Grand Valley State in
Allendale... The Lakers beat FSU to open second day action in the
four-game series with a narrow 8-7 triumph in Sunday’s (April
1) game one of the twinbill at the GVSU Softball Field.
However, the Bulldogs responded with an 11-6 victory in the second
contest to earn the split on the day... With the game two win, the
Bulldogs improved to 12-16 overall and 3-7 in conference play while
nationally 14th-ranked Grand Valley State dipped to 27-5 overall
and 10-2 in GLIAC action... Four Bulldogs had two hits each in game
one on Sunday as Morgan Kramerich, Amy Dunleavy, Lainee Clay and
Michelle Tononi all pounded out multiple hits... In the second
game, the Bulldogs struck for six runs in the bottom of the second
and added four more in the fourth while pounding out 13 hits in an
11-6 victory. Senior Lindsey Pettit had three hits and drove in two
runs for the Bulldogs while also scoring twice. Dunleavy hit a home
run for the Bulldogs’ only extra base hit of the contest.
Findlay
Oilers
The University of Findlay won the opener of a twin bill with Notre Dame College on Wednesday before hosting Ashland University for four games this past Saturday. Despite a riveting 13-1 victory over Ashland on Sunday afternoon, the Oilers are now 13-12 overall with a 4-6 mark in the GLIAC. Findlay will host conference foe Wayne State on Wednesday, April 4 for a doubleheader starting at 4 p.m. This weekend, the Lake Erie Storm will sweep into town for four games at Findlay starting on Friday, April 6 and continuing through Saturday, April 7.
Grand Valley State Lakers
#14 Grand Valley State went 5-1
last week in conference play, as the Lakers hit .360 and smacked 11
home runs in three doubleheaders. GVSU leads the GLIAC with 23 home
runs this season…Junior Emily Jones (Lapeer, Mich./Lapeer
West) and sophomore Miranda Cleary (Howell, Mich.) each homered
four times. Cleary had a pair of multi-homer games – game one
at Northwood on Wednesday and game one against Ferris State on
Sunday…Jones was 4-for-5 with three home runs and eight RBI
against the Timberwolves, homering once in the first game and twice
in game two. She hit .533 for the week with four homers, 11 RBI,
and a 1.467 slugging percentage …sophomore Briauna Taylor
(Livonia, Mich./Livonia Franklin) notched a game-tying, two-run,
two-out home run in the bottom of the sixth inning against Ferris
State in game one on Sunday. The Lakers, who had trailed 6-2 and
7-3 in the game, eventually won the game, 8-7, in the seventh
inning on a walk-off wild pitch.
Hillsdale Chargers
The Hillsdale College softball team
went 5-1 this week, while taking three out of four in its first
four home games of the season against North Division rival Lake
Superior State…The Chargers’ 15-10 record is their
best 25-game start since 2003…The team is 7-3 in the GLIAC,
which equals its conference win total from 2009 and 2010, and
exceeds the six games it won in all of 2008…Senior pitcher
Laura Homan was dominant in three starts, recording three
complete-game shutouts, including a no-hitter against Lake Superior
State Sunday afternoon, the first of her career… She had a
14-to-2 strikeout-to-walk ratio in her four appearances last week
and didn’t allow a run…She was two errors away from a
perfect game Sunday …Senior Allison Hetrick is also off to
the best start of her career…She went 5-for-7 in
Sunday’s doubleheader sweep of the Lakers, and she currently
ranks third in the GLIAC in batting average
(.438)…Hetrick’s 28 hits are already four more than
she’s had for an entire season in her career…Senior
Jessica Guertin hit two more home runs last week, bringing her
career total to 40, the first Charger to ever reach that
plateau.
Lake Erie Storm
Lake Erie College dropped all six
games this week, failing in a non-conference doubleheader vs.
Cedarville and a four-game weekend set at Tiffin. Sophomore
Dawn Ondercin (Sheffield, Ohio/Brookside) went a tough luck 0-3 in
the circle while posting a 3.66 ERA and a 12-1 K:BB ratio. In
12 starts this season, Ondercin ERA has improved over three full
points from last season at 3.51. Sophomore Juliana Brotzman
(Madison, Ohio/Madison) and redshirt freshman Maddi Klemp (Akron,
Ohio/Coventry) each had six hits on the week and Brotzman and
senior Megan Foley (Brunswick, Ohio/Brunswick) each hit home runs
for the Storm. Brotzman leads Lake Erie with a .373 batting
average and had a 15-game hit streak snapped in Tiffin this
weekend. Lake Erie has four doubleheaders scheduled this week
with a non-conference matchup at Cedarville Tuesday, a home contest
vs. Ashland Wednesday and a weekend four-game set at Findlay Friday
and Saturday.
Lake Superior State Lakers
Sophomore second baseman Haleigh Edgar (Tecumseh, Mich.) led LSSU hitters with five hits and a .357 batting average as the Lakers finished 1-3 last weekend at Hillsdale. Freshman catch Ali Lince (St. Clair Shores, Mich.) batted .333 with a double and three RBI, and freshman outfielder Alyssa Avila (Porter Ranch, Calif.) hit her first collegiate home run. For the season, Edgar is batting a team-leading .327, while Lince leads in RBI with 10. The Lakers play at Saginaw Valley State on Wednesday and have a four-game set at Northwood on April 6-7.
Northwood Timberwolves
Northwood split a weekend series at
SVSU last week, winning games two and three of the series …
Northwood is now 7-17 overall, 4-8 in the GLIAC … Sam
Zaborowski (Taylor, Mich./Cabrini) had her best week of the season
at the plate, finishing with a .500 batting average and a pair of
home runs … in Sunday’s doubleheader against the
Cardinals, Zaborowski went 5-7 from the plate with five RBI’s
and two home runs … Stacey Klonowski (Canton,
Mich./Plymouth) continued her solid season, batting .462 …
Northwood will travel to Ferris State Wednesday before hosting Lake
Superior State Friday and Saturday.
Ohio Dominican Panthers
The ebbs and flows of the season
continued for the Panthers this past week as ODU dropped seven
straight and seven of eight overall, including three of four in
conference play. Just the week prior, the Panthers ripped off eight
straight at home, while starting 6-0 in the GLIAC, yet struggled to
gather any rhythm last week in sweeps to Northern Kentucky on
Wednesday (6-5 (8),4-2), No. 2 Indianapolis on Thursday (3-1,8-1),
Wayne State on Saturday (6-0,22-4 (5). Following a 9-3 setback to
the Warriors on Sunday, ODU’s offense finally came alive and
the Panthers survived a late scare for the 14-13 series finale win.
Senior Erin Sutter (Mansfield, OH) collected a team-best nine hits,
going a combined 9-of-21 (.429) with four runs scored for the week,
while classmate Kylee Crislip (Louisville, OH) had seven RBI and
moved into first in the GLIAC with her team-leading sixth and
seventh homeruns this season. With five HBPs, freshman Alex
Cribari, moved into first with the new ODU single-season record of
14, just two away from equaling the career mark set by Kelly Simms
(2000-03).
Saginaw Valley State Cardinals
The Saginaw Valley State University
softball team split its four game series against Northwood
University this weekend going 2-2. The Cardinals defeated the
Timberwolves 6-2 and fell 3-2 on Saturday (Mar. 31). SVSU fell 6-5
and won 7-6 in eight innings on Sunday (Apr. 1)... Freshman Jordan
Randall finished the weekend with five hits, while Jillian
Williamson picked up two wins for the Cardinals over the weekend...
SVSU has a .311 on base percentage and a .329 slugging percentage
overall on the season, while keeping their opponents to a .226
batting average... The Cardinals will be back in action on
Wednesday (Apr. 4) when they take on LSSU at home. First pitch is
scheduled for 3:00 PM. SVSU will then travel to Grand Valley to
face off in a four game series. Game times are scheduled for 3:30
PM on Friday (Apr. 6) and 1:00 PM on Saturday (Apr. 7).
Tiffin Dragons
The Dragons went 4-2 for the week, evening their record at 6-6 in the GLIAC and improving overall to 15-14...Amanda Temple batted .474 during the Dragons’ 4-2 week, collecting a team-high 9 hits with a .632 slugging percentage. She also scored 4 runs with 12 total bases and only 2 strikeouts while compiling a .429 on-base percentage...Abbey Cooksey picked up a pair of wins with just one loss, fanning 20 in 23 innings with just 5 walks. She also picked up a save in Tiffin’s 7-1 victory over Lake Erie. Opponents batted just .177 against her for the week...The Dragons batted .301 for the week, with Torrie Terry also batting .471. Katie Toomey hit .400 in limited action, while Caitlin Houk (.350, team high 7 RBIs for the week) and Stephanie Bobotas (.348, 6 runs scored) also hit over .300...Amber Young went 2-1 on the mound, fanning 22 in 20 innings over 3 starts with opponents hitting just .182 against her.
Wayne State Warriors
Wayne State took three of four against previous GLIAC unbeaten Ohio Dominican last weekend … the Warriors hit .460 as a team and scored 50 runs with a .693 slugging percentage on 21 extra-base hits … senior pitcher Sam Cain (Taylor, Mich./Kennedy) earned two wins by tossing a three-hit shutout in the series opener and limiting ODU to three runs in game three … sophomore outfielder Logan White batted .625 (10-16) with three doubles and six RBI, while sophomore second baseman Nikki Fulton had a hit in eight consecutive plate appearances and finished the series with five doubles, a grand slam home run, eight RBI and a .588 batting average (10-17), while scoring a team-best nine runs … Fulton also set the WSU mark with five hits in Saturday’s nightcap … she has a current 11-game on-base streak after recording a 12-game on-base streak earlier this season (Feb. 24-March 16) … senior third baseman Alison Allen smacked a home run each day and reached base in 10 straight plate appearances (eight hits and two walks) to record a .667 on-base percentage along with a .600 batting average (9-15) with a squad-best 10 RBI.