Softball Battles USF in the Semifinals
5/8/2009 12:00:00 AM | SOFTBALL
LOUISVILLE - The No. 19/19 DePaul softball team faces USF on Friday at 12 p.m. (EST) in a semifinal game at the BIG EAST Championship at Louisville’s Ulmer Stadium. The game was originally scheduled for 2:30 p.m. but was moved up due to impending rain in the Louisville area. The semifinals and championship games will be broadcast live on CBSC with Ann Schatz and Jason Knapp handling the announcing duties.
The Blue Demons are looking for their second BIG EAST Championship since joining the Conference in 2006. Last season DePaul defeated its 2009 semifinal opponent USF, 4-1 last season in Louisville. The squad is 6-2 all-time at the BIG EAST Championship. Since 1992 the Blue Demons are 52-14 in conference tournaments with 10 tournament championships in four different conferences -- North Star, Mid-Continent, Conference USA and the BIG EAST.
Noting the Blue Demons (36-11, 18-3)
DePaul has won 19 of its last 22 games and is 12-3 in true road games this season... averages 7.62 hits per game while the opponent averages 5.57... has 358 hits this season, while 26 percent (94-of-358) have been for extra bases... dating back to last season, the Blue Demons have won 26 of its last 30 BIG EAST Conference regular-season games... DePaul has been ranked in every USA Today/NFCA and ESPN.com/USA Softball Poll this season... dating back to the 2007 season, the Blue Demons have been ranked in the last 39 USA Today/NFCA Polls... dating back to 2008 DePaul has been ranked in the last 18 ESPN.com/USA Softball Polls... DePaul has gone to the NCAA Championship the last three seasons and in nine of the last 10 seasons... the program has gone to a total 13 NCAA Championships while four teams have advanced to the Women’s College World Series (2007, 2005, 2000, 1999).
BIG EAST Championship
The Blue Demons are the No. 1 seed for the second time in four years... hold a 6-2 championship record... has won each of its four first round games... outscored its opponents in first round games 23-4, while two of the four games were completed before the seventh inning... DePaul’s first round game with Pittsburgh in 2008 went 11 innings which ties for the second longest championship game... two other games went 12 innings... Amber Patton is 9-for 25 (.360) in eight BIG EAST Championship games... Jackie Tarulli-Fisher has also played in seven games while she is 6-for-24 (.250) with a pair of RBI... Patton has a team-best seven RBI... Heteniak is 4-1 all-time in championship games in the circle... she averages 9.33 Ks per seven innings at the BIG EAST Championship... she has tallied career-high 14 Ks twice at the Championship... Heteniak talked 14 in DePaul’s opening round games in 2008 (vs. Pittsburgh 11 innings) and in 2009 (vs. Seton Hall 7 innings)... Heteniak was named the 2008 Championship MVP.
Battling the USF Bulls (34-21, 12-10)
USF is the No. 5 seed in the Championship... defeated No. 4 Syracuse 5-4 in nine innings in the opening round... making its fourth BIG EAST Championship since joining the league in 2006... finished second in 2008 after DePaul won the Championship 4-1... 4-3 all-time record at the BIG EAST Championship... the two teams have met 39 times with DePaul holding a 27-12 advantage and has won the last three games... USF’s last win was 5-1 victory in Tampa in 2008... this season, the Bulls are 5-5 in their last 10 games... they use five pitchers, while Cristi Ecks leads the staff with a 1.73 ERA... Kristen Gordon has a team-best 97 Ks and an 8-5 record... Britta Giddens leads the team with a .386 average, 33 RBI and six home runs... against Bulls, Becca Heteniak is a perfect 4-0 with a 1.00 ERA and has allowed 17 hits in 28.0 innings... she has struck out 31 Bulls... Lauren Frankiewicz is 1-1 all-time with a 3.50 ERA in 14 innings... Amber Patton leads DePaul with a .348 average (8-for-23) and two RBI.
The BIG EAST Conference
68-18 all-time since joining the BIG EAST Conference in 2006... in four years, the Blue Demons have won two regular season titles... the 2007 title came with a perfect 20-0 record... the perfect record was just the fourth since the league began sponsoring the sport in 1992... the 20 wins tied a BIG EAST record also held by Notre Dame (2001)... DePaul won its first BIG EAST Championship title in 2008 with a 4-1 victory over USF... Becca Heteniak is 33-3 all-time in the circle with a 1.05 ERA in regular-season conference games... Amber Patton’s single-season .577 average (41-for-71) is the second highest by any BIG EAST player... Janna Venice (1992) from UConn holds the record with a .600 (9-for-15)... Patton broke the conference record for hits this season with 41... the previous record was 38 which Stephanie Brown (Notre Dame) did in 2006... Patton’s 109 career hits is the second most in BIG EAST history... Patton’s career average of .443 (109-for-246) also ranks second all-time.
Finalist for the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Award
On May 6, Amber Patton was selected as one of the 10 finalists for the 8th Annual USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Award. This award, which is considered the most prestigious honors in Division I women’s collegiate softball, is designed to recognize outstanding athletic achievement by female collegiate softball players across the country. The three finalists will be announced May 20th while the winner of the 2009 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Award will be announced prior to the start of the 2009 NCAA Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City. Patton is the first BIG EAST Player to reach the top 10, while DePaul’s Lindsay Chouinard (2000-03) made the list in 2003.
All Conference Accolades
Junior Becca Heteniak picked up her third consecutive major award in 2009... Heteniak won her second straight Pitcher of the Year Award after holding league batters to a stingy .160 average... Heteniak was named to the first team as a pitcher and utility player... Heteniak boasts a 23-6 record and leads DePaul with 47 RBI... Amber Patton picked up her four All-Conference accolade... she earned first team as junior and senior while she was a second-team selection as a freshman and sophomore... Tara Voss and Jackie Tarulli-Fisher both earned third team honors for the second time in their career... DePaul coaches, Eugene Lenti, Liz Jagielski, Cat Osterman and Sam Findlay were honored as the Coaching Staff of the Year... the coaching staff also picked up the honor in 2007.
Smart Players
DePaul softball players, Amber Patton and Becca Heteniak were named first-team ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District and will now appear on the national ballot and are eligible to be Academic All-Americans... they are the program’s 28th and 29th all-district selections while 17 have gone on to be named Academic All-Americans... Heteniak is a junior majoring in mathematics and boasts a 3.69 GPA... Patton is majoring in marketing and has a 3.38 GPA.
High on Heteniak
Becca Heteniak won her second consecutive BIG EAST Pitcher of the Year Award this season... she is averaging 7.68 strikeouts per seven innings of work... tied a career- high with 14 Ks against Seton Hall in the first round of the BIG EAST Championship... she also had 14 strikeouts at the 2008 Championship in DePaul’s 11-inning 4-3 victory over Pittsburgh... she has 210 Ks this season... her opponents average .175 which is tops in the BIG EAST ... Heteniak won the BIG EAST Rookie of the Year in 2007 with a perfect 10-0 record while she won Pitcher of the Year accolades in 2008 after recording a 0.98 ERA in league play... 705 career strike outs ranks as the second most behind Lindsay Chouinard (2000-03)... she had 858.