April 16, 2012
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Catcher Kasie Hatfield (Tampa, Fla.) earned her first Big Ten honor of any kind as she was named the conference's Player of the Week on Monday. The sophomore slugger hit .400 this weekend against Indiana with a slugging percentage of .900 after hitting her first career grand slam in Sunday's 9-4 win.
Hatfield tallied a hit in all three games against Indiana to help Penn State win six of its last seven overall. She added two doubles over the weekend and had seven runs batted in, five of which game in Sunday's victory. The five RBI were tied for second-most in a single game by a Penn State player. The last Nittany Lion to accomplish the feat was Desi Giordano on Mar. 22, 2009 at Illinois.
Hatfield has been on a tear lately, gathering hits in her last six straight games while hitting .524 over that span with four doubles, two home runs and a team-high 12 RBI. In that six-game stretch, Hatfield has slugged 1.000 and reached base at successful clip of .565 for an OPS of 1.565 with seven run scored. Penn State is 5-1 in those games with a team batting average of .310 with 12 doubles and eight home runs.
Last weekend, Hatfield posted a career high four hits, one off the school record, against Michigan State in the second game of the series with two doubles becoming the first PSU player to tally four hits since Ashley Griffith at Maryland on Apr. 23, 2009.
The last Nittany Lion to earn Big Ten Player of the Week honors was Cassidy Bell (Bakersfield, Calif.) on Mar. 28, 2011. Penn State travels to Wisconsin this weekend for a three game set starting Saturday at 1:00 p.m. ET with a doubleheader. The series concludes Sunday at 1:00 p.m. ET.
--NITTANY LIONS--