March 21, 2005
Senior third base Liz Hartmann has been named the Co-BIG EAST Player of the Week after leading the University of Notre Dame softball team (13-8) to a 2-1 record at the Buckeye Invitational last weekend. Hartmann, who earns the first conference weekly award of her career, finished seven for 10 in the tournament with seven RBI and a game-winning three-run home run against Eastern Michigan.
The Novato, Calif., native raised her batting average over .60 points during the weekend flourish, as she is now hitting .305 in 2005. The owner of several late-inning home runs during her career, she delivered again against Eastern Michigan on Sunday. With the game tied at 1-1 in the top of the seventh, she drilled the first pitch she was offered deep over the leftfield fence for a three-run home run which proved to be the game winner. She has now hit five game-winning round trippers in the sixth inning or later during her career, including two against nationally-ranked Nebraska (in 2002 and 2004).
Her seventh-inning home run was her third extra-base hit of the game against Eastern Michigan, as she also doubled twice in two earlier at bats in the game. She also was two for three with three RBI against Oakland, just missing a home run which ricocheted back onto the field after hitting the top of the fence. Her two-RBI double in the fifth inning ending the game against Oakland on collegiate softball’s mercy rule.
In the tournament opener against Marshall (a 7-4 Irish loss), Hartmann was two for three with an RBI double – which tied the game in the sixth inning before Marshall hit a three-run homer in the seventh inning to decide the contest.
A four-year starter for Notre Dame in leftfield (2002, 2003) and at third base (2004, 2005), Hartmann was a first-team all-BIG EAST selection in 2004 and was named the team’s MVP last season. She has driven in 107 runs during her career (eighth on the all-time list) and launched 25 career home runs (fifth on the all-time list).
Hartmann’s shared this week’s BIG EAST award with Seton Hall’s D’arcy Djakalovic.
Fans can see Hartmann and the entire Irish softball team in person on Wednesday in the team’s 2005 home opener. Previously released as a single game, the Irish will face Western Michigan in a doubleheader starting at 4 p.m.