Another Ohio State Record for Juarez: Named Big Ten Pitcher of Week Third-Consecutive Time – Ohio State Buckeyes
5/7/2007 12:00:00 AM | Softball
May 7, 2007
COLUMBUS, Ohio – In a career that already includes four Ohio State all-time pitching records, senior Jamee Juarez notched another milestone Monday when she was named the Big Ten pitcher of the week for the third-consecutive week. Juarez (La Puente, Calif./Wilson) is the first Buckeye ever to receive three consecutive weekly honors from the Big Ten and is only the third player in league history to earn three consecutive weekly awards.
Juarez will take that momentum into the Big Ten tournament this weekend at Buckeye Field, where conference champion and top-seeded Ohio State (35-16) will get the postseason started with a quarterfinal game against eighth-seeded Penn State (26-22) at 7:30 p.m. Thursday.
Last week, Juarez became the second Buckeye ever to earn back-to-back weekly honors from the Big Ten, joining Kristine Himes, who was named player of the week in consecutive weeks in March 2003. Monday, Juarez joined Michigan’s Lorilyn Wilson, who was named pitcher of the week the first three weeks of this season, and Northwestern’s Eileen Canney (last three weeks of 2006) as the Big Ten’s only players to be honored three consecutive weeks since the awards were first handed out in 1990.
Extending her personal winning streak to nine consecutive games and setting two more school records, Juarez went 2-0 last week with a 0.84 earned run average and struck out 25 in 16.2 innings. She pitched 11.2 of the 14 innings against Penn State in a weekend sweep that gave Ohio State its second Big Ten championship and first since 1990.
“Jamee and the other seniors have been the definite driving force behind this Big Ten championship run,” Linda Kalafatis, Ohio State head coach, said. “We are a team that relies on great balance. It has been someone different every time who has stepped up to make the key play or get the key hit. I think the seniors will say our bench has been incredibly inspirational for the team. As for Jamee’s performance, she has always been a great player and things have really come together for her right now. We knew we would have a strong pitching staff going into the year and Jamee has been able to bring a little extra during this Big Ten season.”
Few pitchers at any level have had a stretch of games quite like Juarez has had to close out the regular season. During the last three weeks, Juarez has gone 9-0 with 87 strikeouts, four walks and 0.66 ERA in 53.0 innings pitched. During those three weeks, Juarez has thrown six complete games in eight starts, pitched a perfect game and set OSU all-time pitching records for wins (73), shutouts (27), innings pitched (723.2) and strikeouts (713).
Juarez, who is 18-8 on the season with a 1.55 ERA, currently leads the Big Ten in strikeout-to-walk ratio (8.2-to-1) and fewest walks (25). She wrapped up the regular season with a 9-1 record in Big Ten games and a career-best single-season mark of 208 strikeouts, which rank third in the league. Opponents have hit only .216 against Juarez this season, the best mark of her career.
In addition, Juarez went errorless in 11 chances in the field last week while also playing third base when not in the circle. At the plate, she batted .313 last week with a double, two triples and home run and four RBI.
### GO BUCKS! ###
