April 4, 2005
LOS ANGELES - Santa Clara University junior softball player Liz Courter was named the Pacific Coast Softball Conference Pitcher of the Week for the second straight week after guiding the Broncos to victory against Brown and league opponent Sacramento State. Junior short stop Shannon Linerud was named Co-Player of the Week, marking the second time in as many weeks the Broncos have swept PCSC weekly honors.
Last week, Courter and junior outfielder Jessica Clee were honored by the PCSC. This week's honors mark the first of the season for Linerud and second for Courter. Santa Clara went 5-1 last week at Marsalli Park, including a 3-1 mark against the Hornets to open league play.
Courter, a native of Phoenix, went 3-0 with a 1.00 ERA last week. She pitched three complete games, earning two shut outs. She struck out 15 and allowed only three earned runs, holding batters to a .182 percentage. Included in those totals was a 7K performance against Brown in a 2-0 shut-out victory, allowing only three Bear hits. She followed three days later with a 1-0 shut out against Sacramento State to open PCSC season, once again, holding opponents to only three hits. On Sunday, Courter's offense took over, as she went 4-for-4 with an RBI single in the top of the seventh to lift Santa Clara to a 5-4 victory against Sacramento State. Her defense was just as key, as she earned her 10th win in the circle while striking out six in the all-around performance. Courter completed the week with a .455 batting average to lead the team.
Linerud, a San Jose native from Presentation High School, started all six games at short stop and batted .368, second on the team, while posting 7 hits, 6 RBIs and 3 runs scored. On Saturday, she had the game-winning RBI triple in the bottom of the seventh and followed with a 4-for-7 effort at the plate on Sunday, with 4 RBIs. Linerud notched the team's first score of the day with an RBI single in the third, and then followed with a two-run home run in the fifth to tie the game at 3-3. It marked her first home run of the season. Linerud finished the week with a .632 slugging percentage. Defensively, she had 10 put outs and 16 assists.
Santa Clara, 20-17, will now hit the road for seven straight games in the Pacific Northwest, beginning with continuing PCSC action against Portland State on Saturday and Sunday. The Broncos recently added a tripleheader against Pac-10 schools Oregon and Oregon State on Monday, April 11, due to rainy March weather that cancelled other contests. Santa Clara returns home to Marsalli Park on April 13 with a non-conference doubleheader against Cal Poly at 1 p.m.
