DEARBORN PROVES ONCE AND FOR ALL THAT PITCHERS CAN HIT BY EARNING MAC WEST POW AWARD

CLEVELAND, OH---When Southern Illinois University cancelled the Brechtelsbauer Classic, Northern Illinois University's softball team was not sure if they were going to play at all last weekend. Kathy Dearborn (Geneseo / Darnall) is thanking her lucky stars the Huskies joined the Ole Miss Snowfall Classic as her efforts at the event resulted in a Mid-American Conference West Division Player of the Week award MAC commissioner Rick Chryst announced Monday (Mar. 3).

Dearborn exploded at the plate in Oxford, MS, in only three games of action---she sat out game number one against Drake University. The sophomore batted .600 (6-for-10) including six hits in her last seven at-bats. Four of those hits were for extra bases as the Geneseo native blasted two home runs and collected a pair of doubles on her way to racking up 14 total bases and a 1.400 slugging percentage. She also drove in five runs while scoring two more.

"Kathy was just stellar," NIU head coach Donna Martin exclaimed. "She showed a little bit of power in her bat last year, so we knew it was there. It was just a matter of bringing it to the plate and doing it."

Timely hitting was Dearborn's forte throughout the weekend. Against the University of Evansville Saturday (Mar. 1) night, she capped off a 2-for-3 game with a three-run, seventh-inning homer to left field that gave NIU an 8-3 lead and all but put the game out of reach.

Sunday (Mar. 2) afternoon, the University of Tennessee-Martin felt the full range of Dearborn's capabilities as she posted a 4-for-4 day, hit her second home run of the tournament---third of the season---and came within a triple of hitting for the cycle. It was also the sophomore's leadoff single in the bottom of the seventh that eventually turned into the game-winning run when Elyse Jamrozy (Brookfield / Riverside-Brookfield) drove in pinch-runner Kara Schuur (Muscatine, IA) to lock up NIU's 8-7 come-from-behind victory over UTM.

In addition to her exploits at the plate, Dearborn also logged 14 innings of work on the mound and posted an earned run average of 2.50. Her seven strikeouts and opponents' batting average of .260 helped the second-year hurler take home two of the Huskies' three wins to move her season record to 3-1.

For the season, Dearborn now leads the team with her .474 batting average, 1.105 slugging percentage, and three home runs. Her three doubles tie her for the team lead in that category. She has also logged 21 total bases in only six games, placing her second on the squad behind Lisa Mattke (Plymouth, IN) who pulls into a tie with Dearborn for second place on the Huskie RBI charts at eight.

Mattke earned MAC West Player of the Week honors last week, giving Northern Illinois a clean sweep of the first two loop awards of 2003. Both sluggers will return to action this weekend as NIU travels to the College of Charleston Invitational. The Huskies will face St. Bonaventure University, the host Cougars, and Mt. St. Mary's College Friday (Mar. 7) before closing out the round-robin against Jacksonville State University at 11 a.m. Saturday (Mar. 8).

--Copy by Brian Kedzior -30-