Burleigh, Fouch earn all-Big Ten honors
Two Spartans captured conference recognition following the 2003 Big Ten Women's Golf Championships on April 25-27 in Iowa City.
Freshman Dayna Burleigh took top honors, snagging Big Ten Freshman of the Year accolades and junior Allison Fouch was an all-conference second-team selection.
Burleigh, who finished 16th at the conference tourney with a four-round score of 305, became just the third Spartan in club history to receive the honor.
Fouch found a spot on the conference's second team after carding a 303 through four rounds for a 10th-place finish at the Big Ten championships. This season marks the second time the Grand Rapids native has received Big Ten honors. She was on the conference's first team a year ago.
Bennett added to MSU coaching roster
On April 25 head coach Joanne P. McCallie named Darren Bennett to the coaching staff for the upcoming season.
Bennett will be expected to fill the void left by former assistant coach Niya Butts, who left the Spartans after last season to accept a coaching position at Kentucky.
"Darren brings a wealth of experience as a recruiting coordinator," McCallie said in a statement. "He has many ties across the country and I am very glad that we are able to bring him to Michigan State at this time."
Bowen, Shimek snag national accolades
Spartans Lindsay Bowen and Liz Shimek were named Freshmen All-Americans April 29 by womenscollegehoops.com.
Bowen led all Big Ten rookies in scoring (13.3 ppg) and free-throw percentage (95.5 percent). The guard canned 386 points for the Spartans, a freshman record. She also ranked fourth in the country in 3-point field goal shooting at 46.4 percent, setting an MSU single-season record by connecting 77 times from behind the arc.
Shimek, a forward, averaged 9.1 rebounds per contest, good for second in the conference. Her 10.4-point average was second only to Bowen among Big Ten freshmen. Shimek's 263 boards and 302 points rank second and fifth, respectively, on the all-time Spartan freshman list.
The two led MSU to a 17-12 overall record and the Spartans' first NCAA Tournament berth since 1997.
Spartans drop four straight against OSU
The Spartans struggled against Ohio State recently, dropping four-straight games to the Buckeyes during the weekend. On Sunday, MSU (18-32 overall, 8-17 Big Ten) banged out a season-high 17 hits but came up short in a 11-8 battle with the Buckeyes (35-15, 19-9).
Saturday's double-header saw the Spartans drop another two close games, 2-1 and 6-5. Right fielder Travis Gulick blasted his team-leading 10th dinger of the season in the fifth inning for MSU's only run of game one. In the nightcap, the MSU put together a four-run rally with one out in the final inning to take a 5-4 lead, but back-to-back Buckeye singles drove in two runs and sealed the Spartans' fate.
MSU began the weekend by falling in a 3-2 game, its only two runs again coming on homers from third baseman James Moreno and center fielder Brett Wattles.
Extra-inning softball matchup eludes 'U'
After winning three-straight games to advance to the Big Ten Tournament semifinals, MSU dropped an extra-inning, 6-3 heartbreaker to Northwestern on Saturday.
The Wildcats strung together three-straight singles with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning to send the game into extra innings. MSU would never respond.
With two on and no outs in the eighth inning, Wildcat center fielder Jessie Wellnitz twice attempted to bunt, each resulting in a foul. On the next pitch Wellnitz blasted a three-run homer, the first shot of her four-year career, to win the game for Northwestern.
Dawn Klemish
