Whitney Johnson Named Summit League Softball Pitcher of the Week

ELMHURST, Ill. – Oakland’s Erika Polidori and North Dakota State’s Whitney Johnson were named The Summit League’s Softball Player and Pitcher of the Week, for their performances Feb. 11-17.

PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Whitney Johnson, North Dakota State
Sr. // RHP // Lake Crystal, Minn.
Johnson collects her seventh career Pitcher of the Week award and first of the season after posting a 3-0 record and earning all-tournament honors at the LSU Purple and Gold Challenge.  She opened the weekend with her 26^th-career shutout fanning nine batters in the 4-0 win over Memphis.  In a relief appearance against Nicholls State, the junior struck out another nine at the plate in only 3.2 innings of work. Later that day the right-handed hurler tallied a 5-1 win over Virginia with eight strikeouts, giving up her lone earned run of the tournament.  She ended the weekend with a two-hitter in the 4-1 win against Memphis, the eighth two-hitter of her career.  On the weekend, Johnson fanned 29 batters, while allowing 10 hits, 11 walks and one earned run in 24.2 innings of work for a 0.28 ERA, keeping her opponents to a .125 batting average.

Also nominated: Miranda Kramer, Fort Wayne; Jocelyn Oppenhuis, IUPUI; Erin Kownacki, Oakland; Dana Elsasser, Omaha; Erica Denney, South Dakota; Kori Seidlitz, South Dakota State.

Previous winners: Feb. 11 – Dana Elsasser, UNO.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK          
Erika Polidori
Jr. // C/OF // Brantford, Ontario
Polidori garners her first career Player of the Week honor after leading the Oakland offense with two multi-hit and multi-RBI games to open the season.  The junior opened the season with a 3-for-5 performance from the plate with a homer, three runs scored, two RBI and a stolen base in the 13-5 win over Presbyterian.  She came back the next day to record the game-winning hit driving in two runs to give the Golden Grizzlies a 6-4 victory over Northern Kentucky.  In the final game of the weekend, the catcher went 2-for-3 with a double, a RBI and run scored.  For the weekend, Polidori hit .500 (6-for-12) with an .833 slugging percentage, five RBI, four runs scored, a homer, a double and a stolen base.

Also nominated: Ashleigh Bousquet, Fort Wayne; Lindsey Richards, IUPUI; Katie Kelley, Kansas City; Allie Mathewson, Omaha; Allie Daly, South Dakota; Elyse Eitel, South Dakota State.

Previous winners: Feb. 11 – Jessica Lam, IUPUI.

ABOUT THE SUMMIT LEAGUE
Entering its fourth decade of Division I athletics, The Summit League offers 19 championship sports and has a combined enrollment of over 144,000 at nine universities, four of which are located in top 58 U.S. metro populations (Detroit, Indianapolis, Kansas City and Omaha). Member institutions include: Fort Wayne (Indiana-Purdue-Fort Wayne), IUPUI (Indiana University-Purdue University-Indianapolis), Kansas City (University of Missouri-Kansas City), North Dakota State University, Oakland University, Omaha (University of  Nebraska Omaha), the University of South Dakota, South Dakota State University and Western Illinois University. Previously known as the Mid-Continent Conference, The Summit League rebranded in 2007 and has since produced 54 All-Americans, 37 Academic All-America selections and seven NCAA Championships. For more information about the league and its history, visit www.thesummitleague.org to "See The Summit" or follow on Twitter @thesummitleague.