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MWC Softball Player and Pitcher of the Week
BYU's Jodi Norton and Christie Zinanti honored.
May 1, 2007 COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - BYU senior Jodi Norton and freshman right-hander Christie Zinanti have been named Mountain West Conference Softball Player and Pitcher of the Week, respectively. Norton, a Mesa, Ariz., native, paced BYU with a .471 batting average and a 1.000 fielding percentage in the Cougars' perfect 4-0 week. Norton hit a solo home run in the third inning in game two against Southern Utah on April 24, to pull the Cougars within three. Later in the game and trailing by one in the bottom of the sixth, Norton put BYU over the hump with a two-run shot, her 19th homer of the season, to left center. That dinger tied Norton for the all-time school record of multiple home run games (5). Against MWC-rival Utah, Norton twice brought her team back from the brink of defeat. In the bottom of the sixth, the senior took a full-count pitch over the center field wall to tie the game at two apiece and end BYU's streak of 13 straight hitless at-bats in the game. In the bottom of the eighth, with a teammate on first and no outs, Norton responded to the pressure with a double to left center, extending the Cougars' rally in what would be the team's record-breaking 13th consecutive victory. This marks Norton's first player-of-the-week honor this season. Zinanti, hailing from Pueblo, Colo., went a perfect 4-0 by throwing 13.2 innings of shutout softball this week, including a one-hitter against Southern Utah. After giving up a hit to the game's lead-off batter, Zinanti went on to strike out five and retired 15 of the 18 batters she faced the rest of the way. Against Utah, Zinanti kept the Utes off balance at the plate with a strong pitching performance over the first five innings. After giving up a single to lead off the game, Zinanti retired 15 of the next 17 Ute batters before Utah gained its second hit of the game. Zinanti sent 10 consecutive Utes back to the dugout during the stretch, striking out the side in the third and the fifth innings as part of three consecutive one-two-three campaigns. In all Zinanti retired 50 of the 66 batters she faced for the week, recording almost twice as many strikeouts (19) as hits allowed (10). Zinanti's four consecutive wins gives her a 15-6 record on the season. This marks her second pitcher-of-the-week honor for the season.
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