May 3, 2004
Sophomore righthander Heather Booth was named the BIG EAST Pitcher of the Week on Monday, May 3, sharing the award with St. John’s Courtney Fitzgerald. Booth earned two BIG EAST victories over the weekend, helping the Irish to 16-0 in the league standings and securing the conference regular-season title and number one seed in the championship.
Against Virginia Tech on Friday, April 30, Booth allowed just one hit while striking out nine. Facing Pittsburgh on Sunday, May 2, booth struck out nine once again in a complete-game six-inning performance.
The weekly award is the second in 2004 for Booth, who also earned the honor on March 1. She has three awards in her career, earning the pitcher of the week honor on April 14, 2003.
Booth is also ranked third in the BIG EAST Conference for individual pitching. She is 8-0 with a 0.95 ERA, tossing seven complete games and five shutouts.
The combination of Booth and junior Steffany Stenglein has been dominating in conference play this season. The Irish pitching staff is first in the league with a 0.77 ERA – with their closest competitor at 1.43 (Villanova). Notre Dame pitchers have allowed just 11 earned runs in 100.0 innings, struck out 103 batters and posted nine shutouts in 16 league contests.
Stenglein and Booth also have combined for five BIG EAST Pitcher of the Week awards.
The Irish offense has been outstanding as well. Notre Dame is hitting .368 as a team in conference play with Megan Ciolli (.510), Nicole deFau (.479), Mallorie Lenn (.432), and Liz Hartmann (.395) all ranked in the top 10 for batting average. The Irish have scored 107 runs in conference play, with Syracuse as the closest competitor at 65 runs. The Irish have drove in a conference-best 94 runs and struck out a conference-low 47 times.