March 23, 2010
LOS ANGELES - Riding an eight-game winning streak, LMU swept the Pacific Coast Softball Conference Coastal Division weekly awards for March 15-21 as sophomore Sam Fischer was named the Player of the Week and senior Melissa Dykema earned Pitcher of the Week honors, the conference office announced Tuesday. It is the first time this season that the Lions have taken home both weekly honors as Dykema picks up the sixth of her career and Fischer gains her second this season and third overall.
Fischer (Simi Valley, Calif.) enjoyed being back at Smith Field, exploding offensively this week with a .400 average, four home runs, and eight RBI to help LMU win all seven of its games, including going a perfect 6-0 at the Crowne Plaza LAX Showcase. Fischer collected at least one hit in all seven games and has an eight-game hitting streak to coincide with LMU's eight-game winning streak. She finished the week 10-for-25 with eight of her 10 hits going for extra-bases on four doubles and four home runs, to give her a slugging percentage of 1.040.
Fischer opened the week with a 1-for-3 effort with a double in the 3-0 win over Harvard, then went 3-for-5 with her second career two-homer game, adding a double and driving in four while scoring three runs against Bucknell. She added a third home run on the week on Friday against Utah Valley, then hit a two-run shot that proved the difference in Saturday's 4-2 rematch victory over UVU. Just a sophomore, Fischer is already in a tie for eighth place on LMU's career home run list, as her five this season give her 16 in less than two seasons.
Dykema (Bellflower, Calif.) has been one of the catalysts of LMU's eight-game winning streak, going a perfect 4-0 with a 1.04 ERA in the week. Dykema opened with her second consecutive shutout, blanking Harvard 3-0 on a four-hitter. She followed that with a 5-4 extra-inning complete game victory over North Dakota in which she struck out a season-high eight and did not allow an earned run. After cruising to a 14-2 win over Bucknell, Dykema won her fifth straight start, beating Utah Valley 4-2 with six strikeouts. On the week, she did not allow more than six hits and two earned runs in any of her four starts, posting four complete games and striking out 21 in 27 innings. In improving to 7-6, Dykema moved into third place on LMU's career wins list with 59, leaving her one win shy of becoming the third player in PCSC history with 60 career victories.
Fisher was previously named the PCSC Coastal Division Player of the Week on February 15 and leads the Lions in batting average (.373), hits (25), runs scored (14), doubles (seven), home runs (five), RBI (17), slugging percentage (.701), and on-base percentage (.447). She tops in the conference in home runs and slugging percentage. Dykema leads the PCSC in wins and has a 7-6 record with a 3.16 ERA and nine complete games.
After playing 12 games in the last eight games, LMU takes a well-deserved break. The Lions return to action on Friday when they welcome UNLV to Smith Field for a single game at 2 p.m. The 10-game home stand concludes on Sunday, March 28 with a noon doubleheader against UCLA in the teams' first meeting since LMU knocked the Bruins out of the 2007 NCAA Tournament.
- GO LIONS -
