April 4, 2007
STARKVILLE, Miss.- Senior Stephanie Brown (Chandler, Ariz./Corona del Sol), who was already named the BIG EAST Player of the Week by the conference office on April 2, picked up the first weekly national honor of her career in being named the Louisville Slugger/National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Player of the Week on April 4. The Irish centerfielder had an amazing week at the plate with a .722 batting average (13-for-18), two doubles, a triple, four runs batted in and five runs scored.
The senior had four multi-hit games on the week, including two three-hit performances and a four-hit game. The leadoff batter sparked the Irish to wins over Toledo (March 29) and doubleheader sweeps of both Pittsburgh (March 31) and Syracuse (April 1).
Brown started her week going 1-for-3 with a stolen base in the dramatic 4-1 win over Toledo. In the doubleheader sweep of Pittsburgh, she was 5-for-7 with two runs scored, two RBI, two stolen bases and a double. Among her performances against Pittsburgh was her first three-hit game of the week. In the Notre Dame sweep over fellow conference rival Syracuse; Brown was an amazing 7-for-8 with three runs scored, two RBI, a double and a triple. In fact, the only out she made an out against the Orange was a bullet hit directly at the centerfielder. In the two games against Syracuse, she had a three-hit game in the first game (second of the week and sixth of the season) and a four-hit game (first of the season) in the second game. For the week, the senior also had 17 total bases, a slugging percentage of .944, three stolen bases.
On the season, Brown is hitting .477 with 41 hits, 24 runs scored, three doubles, two triples, eight RBI, a slugging percentage of .558, 10 stolen bases and an on-base percentage of .531.
Notre Dame returns to the field this week, heading to Chicago for a midweek conference doubleheader against fellow front-runner in the BIG EAST, DePaul on Thursday, April 5 at 4 p.m. (ET).