Notre Dame Fighting Irish - Official Athletics Website

Softball Lands Two BIG EAST Awards After 6-0 Conference Week

April 14, 2003

Freshman designated player Meagan Ruthrauff and classmate Heather Booth both earned weekly awards from the BIG EAST Conference on Monday after helping the University of Notre Dame softball team (20-11, 6-0) to six conference victories over the last seven days.

Ruthrauff was named co-player of the week (sharing the award with Erin Mackey from Boston College) while Booth landed co-pitcher of the week honors (sharing with BC’s Kim Ryan).

Notre Dame went 6-0 last week with two victories each over Pittsburgh, St. John’s and Seton Hall. The wins over St. John’s and Seton Hall, the second and first place teams in the league before the weekend, propelled the Irish from ninth in the league standings to third (and the only team undefeated in conference play).

Ruthrauff hit .438 last week with two doubles, two home runs and six RBI. Her slugging percentage for the week rounded out at an eye-popping .938. She also walked three times to put up a .550 on-base percentage.

Among her big hits during the week, Ruthrauff crushed a three-run home run in game one against St. John’s on Friday to put the Irish ahead to stay. In the second game against the Red Storm, she doubled and eventually scored the winning run in Notre Dame’s 2-1 victory. She also hit a home run in game two against Seton Hall.

Booth ended up with two one-hit gems last week, throwing complete-games against Pittsburgh and Seton Hall. She carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning against the Pirates on Sunday, losing her chance at the no-no with two outs.

The rookie righthander finished last week 3-0 with 19 strikeouts in 19.1 innings pitched. Her BIG EAST Conference-only games ERA of 0.36 leads the league as of April 14.

Notre Dame will look to secure first place in the conference standings on Tuesday when they face Providence (11-13, 1-7) at 2 p.m. in Rhode Island. The Irish were originally set to take on Nebraska Tuesday, but were forced to cancel the doubleheader against the Huskers due to conference obligations. Notre Dame and Providence were supposed to have played on Saturday, April 5, but the doubleheader was postponed due to inclement weather.

The Irish return home on Thursday, April 17, against IPFW. The doubleheader will begin at 4 p.m.