April 22, 2008

Iowa City, IA (UWIRE) -- As the awards keep showering down on junior Brittany Weil, so do the wins for the Hawkeye softball.

The Garden Grove, Calif., native became the first-ever Hawkeye to be named Big Ten Pitcher of the Week four times after collecting her second-straight co-title for her efforts against Wisconsin and Minnesota on April 19 and Sunday.

Winners in 14 of their last 18 games, Weil and company will break from their conference schedule to confront Drake at 6 p.m. today in Des Moines.

The group hopes for more Weil-whooping against the Bulldogs (21-19, 11-5), whom they defeated, 4-1, in the Metrodome Classic on Feb. 17.

"We just want to take advantage of every opportunity we have to play," said Iowa head coach Gayle Blevins. "Conference or nonconference, every game is important to us."

Weil started the past weekend with a complete game, one-hit shutout against Wisconsin in which she struck out a season-high 12 batters. She followed that performance with a seven-strikeout shutout against Minnesota.

(C) 2008 The Daily Iowan via UWIRE