JAMAICA, N.Y.  Sophomore Courtney Fitzgerald (Bellerose, N.Y./Mary Louis Academy) was named the BIG EAST Pitcher of the Week, it was announced today by the conference office. This is the first time in her career that Fitzgerald has won the Pitcher of the Week honor, though she was chosen as Rookie of the Week last season.

Fitzgerald won five straight decisions to lead the Red Storm to a 6-2 week. She started the week with a 2-0 shutout over Iona College, picking up 10 strikeouts while allowing just one basehit. In the second game of a doubleheader against the Gaels, Fitzgerald came in in relief of starter Gina Calabrese to pitch the final 2.2 innings, allowing no runs and just three hits for a 9-5 Red Storm victory. Then, the Red Storm hosted Marist in a non-conference doubleheader on Thursday. Fitzgerald picked up her third win of the week allowing just one run on a solo homerun in the top of the fourth inning. The Red Storm offense backed her with five runs on 12 hits for a 5-1 SJU victory, their fourth in a row.

Over the weekend, Fitzgerald sparkled, tossing back-to-back shutouts of two BIG EAST rivals. Fitzgerald allowed six hits and struck out six batters in a 2-0 win over Rutgers, though she had to pitch her way out of several jams in the later innings. With two on and one out in the bottom of the sixth, Fitzgerald recorded back-to-back strikeouts to retire the side. Then in the bottom of the seventh, Fitzgerald escaped a bases-loaded one-out jam by getting the No. 4 and No. 5 hitters in the lineup to ground out and pop up, respectively.

On Sunday, Fitzgerald did something that no other pitcher had accomplished this season  hold the Villanova Wildcats scoreless. The Wildcats, who had received votes in the last two USA Today/NFCA Top 25 Poll, came into the game with a 21-game winning streak and a 33-3 overall record. Fitzgerald and the Red Storm ended that streak with 1-0 victory in the first game of the doubleheader. Junior Marilyn Browns fourth homerun of the season, a solo shot off the scoreboard in left field, provided all the run support Fitzgerald needed as she scattered six hits, struck out five and walked none.

For the week, Fitzgerald pitched 30.2 innings, gave up 18 hits (only two for extra bases), walked five, struck out 27 and gave up just one earned run for a 0.29 ERA. She is now 16-11 on the season and leads the team with a 1.79 ERA. Fitzgerald, whose16 victories are second all-time for a single season to Calabreses 18 from 2000, has recorded seven shutouts and owns a 4-3 record in the BIG EAST.

The Red Storm are 28-25 and 6-8 in the BIG EAST (6th place) and return to action Thursday afternoon, April 26, when they host the Wagner College Seahawks in a non-conference doubleheader at 3:00 at Mitchel Field.