UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; March 27, 2006 - Sophomore catcher Hollee Haines (Riverside, Calif.) received Big Ten Softball Player of the Week honors after her outstanding performance at East Carolina's Pirate Invitational. A 2004 all-region pick, she batted almost .450 over a five-game stretch, including a dramatic game-winning homerun to lift Penn State over host East Carolina, 2-1, late in the game on March 25.
Leading the Lion offense, Haines boosted Penn State to a 4-1 record on the weekend, losing only to No. 7 California on the final day of the tournament, March 26. She batted .467 and slammed home six RBI in 15 at-bats, going 7-for-15. One of Haines RBI came on her second homerun of the weekend, a solo blast in the sixth inning that lifted the Lions above East Carolina and preserved a then-16 game win-streak.
Since joining the league in 1992, six other Nittany Lions have been named Big Ten Player of the Week. Haines is the first conference weekly award-winner since Mandy Nuxoll in March of 2002.
The Nittany Lion softball team dropped a 5-0 decision to No. 7 California (28-2) Sunday in Penn State's final game of the Pirate Invitational at East Carolina. The loss snapped a 16-game win streak for the Lions, the longest in program history. Penn State, which hadn't lost since February, is off to its best start ever.
Penn State hosts local rival St. Francis Wednesday in a 6 p.m. doubleheader at Nittany Lion Field before opening its Big Ten season at Purdue and Indiana this weekend.