DePaul swept the C-USA Weekly awards with Sarah Martz earning Hitter of the Week honors and Lindsay Chouinard picking up her third consecutive Pitcher of the Week accolade; The eighth-ranked Blue Demons remain in first place in the conference standings and will look to continue their 18-game win streak when they face No. 22 South Florida (46-12, 14-3) this weekend in Tampa; Check out all the latest news in this week's C-USA Softball Notebook.

HITTER OF THE WEEK
SARAH MARTZ, DE PAUL
Junior, OF, Lanark, Ill.
Martz batted .667 (12-for-18) last week, including eight RBI and nine runs scored for a slugging percentage of 1.000. She went 5-for-6 against Loyola with one double and one home run in the series. Against Charlotte, she paced the DePaul offense, going 7-for-12 with a triple and three RBI. Martz currently leads the Blue Demons with a .496 batting average and a .683 slugging percentage.

PITCHER OF THE WEEK
LINDSAY CHOUINARD, DE PAUL
Senior, LHP, Fresno, Calif.
Chouinard led the Blue Demons last week, allowing no earned runs, while striking out 25 batters in 19 innings pitched. In a 6-0 win over Charlotte, she notched her first perfect game of the season and the seventh of her career. She is now just one no-hitter away from tying the C-USA all-time career record held by Southern Miss' Courtney Blades. She finished the week, 3-0, giving up two hits and one walk. She currently leads the league with a 0.42 ERA.

NATIONAL POLLS
USA Today/NFCA Poll (April 15)
In the most recent USA TODAY/NFCA Poll, DePaul is ranked No. 8, while South Florida is No. 22. The Blue Demons were also ranked No. 8 on Feb. 17, marking the highest ranking by a C-USA team since Southern Miss finished No. 6 in the final 2000 poll. Here's a look at the entire poll:

1. Arizona (19)
2. UCLA
3. Washington
4. Texas
5. Nebraska
6. Oklahoma
7. Cal State Fullerton
8. DE PAUL
9. Georgia
10. California
11. LSU
12. Arizona State
13. Michigan
14. Florida State
15. Stanford
16. South Carolina
17. Alabama
18. Oklahoma State
19. Texas A&M
20. La.-Lafayette
Oregon
22. SOUTH FLORIDA
23. Illinois
24. Iowa
25. Florida

AROUND THE HORN

CHARLOTTE (13-27, 4-16 in 2003): After two weeks on the road, Charlotte finally returns home to host a pair of opponents this week. The 49ers welcome Winthrop for a doubleheader on Wednesday before closing the regular-season with UAB this weekend. This week's games will mark the final appearances at the Phillips Complex for DANA BOWERS, AMY MORSE, MELANIE THEVENOTE and BETSY THOMPSON. Last week, the Niners dropped a three-game series at No. 8 DePaul. The team's doubleheader at Furman was cancelled.

DE PAUL (34-4, 17-1 in 2003): No. 8 DePaul swept Charlotte in a three-game series to improve its win streak to 18. The Blue Demons now rank third on the C-USA all-time winning streak list and only need eight more victories to break the record of 25 held by Southern Miss in 2000. LINDSAY CHOUINARD posted the seventh perfect game of her career to lead the Blue Demons to a 6-0 win over Charlotte on Saturday. She currently leads the conference in ERA (0.42), opposing batting average (.132) and saves (4). Last week, SARAH MARTZ batted .667, going 12-for-18 with nine runs and eight RBI. She currently leads the Blue Demons in batting average (.496), slugging percentage (.683), RBI (29) and triples (3).

EAST CAROLINA (18-27, 2-16 in 2003): East Carolina snapped a 10-game losing streak, capturing one win against Houston in a three-game series last weekend. LACASSA HILL went 4-for-11 against the Cougars with four runs, two RBI and two home runs. CHRISTINE SHERIDAN is the team's leading hitter at .383 and also has a team-high 25 RBI.

HOUSTON (31-18, 13-5 in 2003): The Cougars went 2-1 against East Carolina last weekend. KRISTEN GLOWACZ was Houston's top hitter, batting .417 (5-for-12) with two home runs and five RBI. She blasted a solo home run in game two of Friday's doubleheader to give Houston a 3-2 victory. She currently leads the team in home runs (13), batting average (.359), slugging percentage (.739), hits (51) and RBI (44). JENNY JOHNSON improved her record to 11-6 for the season with two victories last week. She pitched 10.4 innings, giving up only three earned runs and 11 hits, while striking out 11. She also posted her 100th strikeout of the season and currently has 110 on the season.

LOUISVILLE (19-18, 10-7 in 2003): Louisville suffered a three-game sweep against South Florida last weekend. SHANNON NORD led the Cardinal bats, going 5-for-11 in the series. Nord currently leads the conference with four triples. As a team, the Cardinals remain third in the league stats with a .273 batting average. Louisville will face intra-state rival Kentucky in a doubleheader Wednesday at Ulmer Stadium.

SAINT LOUIS (16-13, 9-11 in 2003): Saint Louis went 2-1 against Southern Miss last weekend. NICOLE BOHNENSTIEHL pitched the Billikens to a pair of 1-0 wins in the series. In game one, she held Southern Miss to just two hits and struck out 14. In game two, Bohnenstiehl had eight strikeouts, while giving up only three earned runs. For the weekend, she had a 0.91 ERA over the three games and allowed USM to hit just .120 with 28 strikeouts and one walk. Bohnenstiehl has set school career records for appearances (85), starts (72), and complete games (66). She has 593 career strikeouts. In C-USA games, she has 113 strikeouts in 107-1/3 innings of work. BETH YAGGE has moved into a tie with Bohnenstiehl for second place on the all-time SLU doubles list with 29. The record is 30 by Dawn Elser. KERRI HIGGINS had her 10-game hitting streak, the longest by a Billiken this season, end in game three against Southern Miss.

SOUTH FLORIDA (46-12, 14-3 in 2003): No. 22 South Florida posted its fourth conference sweep of the season, defeating Louisville in a three-game series last weekend. Junior pitcher LEIGH ANN ELLIS has earned the last seven decisions for the Bulls, including going 5-0 last week. In the Louisville series, she struck out 17, while giving up no earned runs and five walks. She currently has allowed an average of only two hits per game, and has not allowed an extra base hit in the last five decisions. South Florida leads C-USA in runs scored (289), runs batted in (256), hits (469), total bases (644), doubles (67) and triples (12).

SOUTHERN MISS (21-26, 7-11 in 2003): The Golden Eagles lost its first-ever series to Saint Louis last weekend, however all three games were close battles, as two needed extra innings and the third was decided by a run in the bottom of the sixth. DANIELLE WYMER held a no-hitter through 5 2/3 innings against the Billikens last Saturday, and the freshman ended the contest giving up one hit and no earned runs while striking out two. DANELLE HATFIELD improved her record to 6-3. In 60.1 innings, the junior has recorded 12 walks and 28 strikeouts. Southern Miss will be completing its home schedule this week. The Golden Eagles host Southeastern Louisiana in a single game on Wednesday. The final home conference series will be this weekend with three games against East Carolina.

UAB (23-23, 6-12 in 2003): UAB evened its record at .500 with wins over Stephen F. Austin, 1-0 and 3-0, on April 15. In game one, KERRI FOSTER picked up her 11th win of the season, giving up only three hits and striking out five in nine innings pitched. The Blazers turned four double plays in the game and TARA HIGASHINO recorded her first career UAB hit. In the second game of the doubleheader, AMANDA ELLIS went 2-for-2 with an RBI-double. UAB had the weekend off and will now take on Mississippi State on Tuesday.

2003 C-USA TOURNAMENT
The 2003 Conference USA Softball Tournament is scheduled for May 8-10 in Houston, Texas. The University of Houston will serve as the host institution for the event with all games being played at the Houston Softball Stadium.

The top six finishers in the regular season standings will compete in the double-elimination tournament, with the champion receiving the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Championship. The championship game on May 10 will be televised by affiliates of the Conference USA Television Network.

BY THE NUMBERS
- DePaul's LINDSAY CHOUINARD earned her 14th C-USA Pitcher of the Week honor of her career this week. No other C-USA pitcher has earned more weekly accolades. With five Players of the Week honors this season, Chouinard could break the single-season record set by former Southern Miss pitcher Courtney Blades, who recorded seven weekly honors in 2000.

- South Florida's LEIGH ANN ELLIS and DePaul's LINDSAY CHOUINARD have both broken the 20-plus win plateau this season. Ellis currently leads the conference with 28 wins, while Chouinard is second with 22.
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- Last year, Houston came within three home runs of breaking the C-USA record of 49, set by Southern Miss in 2000. The Cougars have picked up where they left off, hitting 44 this season to rank first in the conference.

DID YOU KNOW?
With two home runs this past weekend, Houston's KRISTEN GLOWACZ is only one dinger away from tying the C-USA record. Southern Miss' AMY BERMAN holds the record of 14 home runs during the 2002 season.