March 30, 2009
ST. LOUIS -
Illinois State senior pitcher Amber Smith (Fairfield, Calif./Fairfield) was on the money just when her team needed her last week. And by securing a 2-1 upset victory over No. 24 Iowa March 25, Smith earned her first-ever State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Pitcher of the Week honor, the league office announced Monday afternoon.
Smith has now earned an MVC Player or Pitcher of the Week honor five times in her career. Prior to Monday's honor, Smith had earned her four previous weekly Valley awards in the form of the league's player of the week honoree. The award is the second this season that an Illinois State pitcher has won. Freshman Jordan Birch was named State Farm MVC Pitcher of the Week March 2.
With Illinois State's season record standing at one-game-under-.500 entering its big midweek non-conference game March 25 against No. 24 Iowa, Smith stepped into the circle and pitched one of the best wins of her career to give the Redbirds a 2-1 victory over their longtime rival.
The Fairfield, Calif., native earned the complete-game victory over Iowa after she gave up just one run on six hits, while striking out two and walking only one batter. Aside from Iowa's lone run scored in the game, no other Hawkeye batter got past second base against Illinois State's senior right-hander.
The win secured notoriety for Smith and Illinois State, as it snapped Iowa's nine-game winning streak, which at the time was one of the longest in NCAA Division I softball. It also marked the first victory for ISU over a ranked opponent since March 2, 2008, when the Redbirds defeated then-No. 23 North Carolina, 2-0 (also a complete-game victory by Smith).
Smith and the Redbirds will return to action Wednesday when they host Indiana State for a conference doubleheader, beginning at 3 p.m. CT at Marian Kneer Softball Stadium. The start time of Wednesday's doubleheader has been moved up one hour from its previously scheduled start time of 4 p.m. CT.
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