Southern Miss swept the weekly awards with Heather Bell earning C-USA Hitter of the Week and Jessica Holaway claiming Pitcher of the Week; After capturing two wins in a three-game series against South Florida last weekend, DePaul clinched its third consecutive Conference USA regular season title. The Blue Demons are currently 39-5-1 on the season and 19-2 in conference play; Catch up on all the latest news in this week's C-USA Softball Notebook


HITTER OF THE WEEK
HEATHER BELL, SOUTHERN MISS
Junior, OF, Castaic, Calif
Bell batted .667 (6-for-9), leading Southern Miss to a 4-0 weekly performance, including a three-game sweep over East Carolina. She hit 5-for-7 against East Carolina, notching a .714 batting average, with two home runs and four RBI. Bell smashed her fifth home run of the season in game three against ECU to finish the game 2-for-3. She has also hit safely in five of the last six games.

PITCHER OF THE WEEK
JESSICA HOLAWAY, Southern Miss
Junior, RHP, Baker, La
In 13 innings pitched, Holaway did not surrender a run last week, collecting three wins and two shutouts. She finished the week, striking out 12 batters and giving up only three walks. Holaway has surrendered only one run in her last 20.2 innings pitched. She currently leads the Golden Eagles with a 2.01 ERA.


NATIONAL POLLS
USA Today/NFCA Poll (April 22)
In the most recent USA TODAY/NFCA Poll, DePaul is ranked No. 6, the highest ranking by a C-USA team since Southern Miss finished No. 6 in the final 2000 poll. South Florida also moved up in the rankings to No. 20. Here's a look at the entire poll:


1. Arizona (21)
2. UCLA
3. Texas
4. Washington
5. Oklahoma
6. DE PAUL
7. Cal-State Fullerton
Nebraska
9. California
10. Georgia
11. Louisiana State
12. Arizona State
13. Florida State
14. Michigan
15. Oklahoma State
16. Stanford
17. Alabama
18. South Carolina
19. Texas A&M
20. SOUTH FLORIDA
21. Illinois
La.-Lafayette
23. Oregon
24. Iowa
25. Florida

DEPAUL CLINCHES C-USA REGULAR SEASON TITLE
After capturing two wins in a three-game series against South Florida last weekend, DePaul clinched its third consecutive Conference USA regular season title. The Blue Demons are currently 39-5-1 on the season and 19-2 in conference play. They are only one victory away from tying the record for most victories in conference play. Last season, DePaul posted a record 20-1 league mark.

GEARING UP FOR TOURNAMENT PLAY
With only one weekend left of regular season play, several teams clinched a berth to the 2003 C-USA Tournament, hosted by Houston, on May 8-10. DePaul, South Florida, Houston and Louisville have all earned a spot into the tournament. However, Southern Miss (10-11), Saint Louis (9-11) and UAB (9-12) are in the hunt for the final two berths. Southern Miss will face UAB, while Saint Louis takes on East Carolina this weekend. If Saint Louis wins two games or sweeps the Pirates, the Billikens will have clinched a spot. Then the winner of the UAB-Southern Miss series, will take the other spot. (See p.5 for the tournament's tiebreaker policy).

REACHING THE 50-WINS MILESTONE
With a 49-14 overall record, South Florida is only one win away from reaching 50 wins this season. It would mark the first time since 1998 that the Bulls have reached this milestone. During the 1998 season, South Florida posted a 57-14 record and advanced to the NCAA Tournament. In four years since softball became a conference sport, only two schools have reached the 50-plus win plateau. Southern Miss accumulated a 63-13 mark in 2000, while DePaul finished 51-16-1 in 2001, and 50-11 in 2002.

2003 NO-HITTERS
DePaul's LINDSAY CHOUINARD, Houston's BROOKE JOHNSON, Louisville's AJA SHERMAN and South Florida's LEIGH ANN ELLIS, have combined to throw five no-hitters this season. Here's a look at those no-hit efforts:

March 8 Aja Sherman, Louisville (8) vs. Ohio U. (0)
March 11 Leigh Ann Ellis, South Florida (10) vs. Canisius (0)
March 12 Leigh Ann Ellis, South Florida (8) vs. Ball State (0)
March 27 Brooke Johnson, Houston (9) vs. Alabama A&M (1)
April 18 Lindsay Chouinard, DePaul (6), vs. Charlotte (0)
April 23 Brently Bridgeforth, East Carolina (1) vs. Liberty (0)

ONE-RUN GAMES
Charlotte 8-4
DePaul 5-5-1
East Carolina 4-7
Houston 6-7
Louisville 4-6
Saint Louis 6-5
South Florida 13-4
Southern Miss 8-5
UAB 5-5

NON-CONFERENCE RECORDS
Charlotte 9-11
DePaul 20-3-1
East Carolina 18-11
Houston 20-13
Louisville 9-13
Saint Louis 9-4
South Florida 34-9
Southern Miss 15-15
UAB 18-11
TOTAL 152-90-1

CONFERENCE SUMMARY
Here's a summary of Conference USA's record versus other conferences in non-conference competition in 2002:
Conference Record Conference Record
America East 5-0 Mid-Eastern 0-0
Atlantic Coast 2-9 Missouri Valley 7-5
Atlantic Sun 16-3 Mountain West 1-0
Atlantic 10 3-0 Northeast 5-0
Big East 6-2 Ohio Valley 6-2
Big Sky 0-0 Pac-10 1-7
Big South 10-5 Patriot 0-0
Big Ten 6-5-1 Southeastern 8-17
Big 12 6-10 Southern 4-5
Big West 2-0 Southland 16-5
Colonial 4-0 SWAC 8-0
Horizon 4-1 Sun Belt 3-1
Ivy 3-0 West Coast 0-2
Metro Atlantic 3-0 WAC 6-3
Mid-American 4-2 Independents 6-2
Mid-Continent 4-0 Non-Division I 0-0
TOTAL 152-90-1 (.627)


AROUND THE HORN

CHARLOTTE (14-31, 4-19 in 2003): Charlotte closed the 2003 season on April 27, falling to UAB, 6-4. It marked the final game of their collegiate career for DANA BOWERS, AMY MORSE, MELANIE THEVENOTE and BETSY THOMPSON. There were a number of highlights for the team this season. Thompson broke the school's 12-year old record for career strikeouts, finishing her career with 415. Morse finished fourth on the all-time list with 328. Thevenote's nine home runs ranks tied for fourth on the career list, while newcomer SAM MOORE hit six homers, the second-most in a season.

DE PAUL (39-5-1, 19-2 in 2003): No. 6 DePaul went 2-1 against 20th-ranked South Florida last weekend. The Blue Demons have now clinched their third consecutive C-USA regular season title. LINDSAY CHOUINARD picked up her 25th win of the season. She currently ranks second in the conference with a 25-4 mark. Last week, SARAH MARTZ pitched two complete games, notching eight strikeouts and giving up no earned runs for two victories. DePaul will now face Notre Dame on Tuesday, before taking on Louisville in the final weekend of regular-season play.

EAST CAROLINA (20-30, 2-9 in 2003): The Pirates fell to Southern Miss in three games last weekend to close out the 2003 season with a 20-30 overall record and 2-9 conference mark. This season, CHRISTINE SHERIDAN led East Carolina notching a .375 batting average, a .555 slugging percentage, 31 walks and 28 RBI. In the pitching circle, BRENTLY BRIDGFORTH posted a team-high 74 strikeouts in 128 innings pitched. The freshman notched her first no-hitter of the season against Liberty last Wednesday. She allowed only two walks in the game, and struck out three batters.

HOUSTON (34-20, 14-7 in 2003): The Cougars went 1-2 against Louisville last weekend. JESSICA FALCO recorded her third complete game of the season in Saturday's 2-0 victory against the Cardinals. Falco allowed only two hits, struck out six and walked none to improve her ERA to 1.25. The Cougars have clinched a spot in the C-USA Tournament with a 14-7 conference mark, heading into the final weekend of play. Houston will face South Florida this week, before hosting the C-USA Tournament on May 8-10.

LOUISVILLE (21-21, 12-8 in 2003): Louisville evened its overall record to 21-21 and clinched a berth to the C-USA Tournament after posting two wins over Houston last weekend. KEOLA CALDERON accounted for all of Louisville's RBI against the Cougars. In her final home game, she knocked a two-out single in the bottom of the seventh to give U of L a 2-1 win over Houston. She currently leads the team in RBI (22) and ranks second in batting average (.330). The Cardinals close out the regular season when they take on No. 6 DePaul in a weekend series.

SAINT LOUIS (18-15, 9-11 in 2003): The Billikens ended two long losing streaks to Missouri Valley Conference teams last week. Saint Louis had lost 25 straight games to Southern Illinois, dating back to 1992 before the 5-4 win in game two on April 24. The Billikens had lost 22 straight games to Southwest Missouri State since 1980, before prevailing 4-1 in game one on April 22. The Billikens have won all 15 games this season in which they had more hits than their opponents. SLU has twice rallied from a 4-1 deficit entering the seventh inning and comeback to win by scoring four runs in their final at-bat. The Billikens were down to Tennessee-Martin on April 1 and Southern Illinois last Thursday and pushed across four runs to claim 5-4 wins in both games. NICOLE BOHNENSTIEHL has set the career RBI record at SLU with 68, breaking the previous record of 65. She also set the single-season victory record with her 15th win of the year, and is 8 K's away from breaking her own single-season strikeouts record of 211 set in 2001. Bohnenstiehl became the first hitter in the four-year history of The Billiken Sports Center to record four hits in one game.



SOUTH FLORIDA (49-14, 15-5 in 2003): No. 20 South Florida went 1-2 against DePaul last weekend in a three-game home series. The Bulls are only one win away from posting its first 50-plus win season in C-USA history. The last time South Florida claimed 50 victories was in 1998, when the Bulls finished 57-14 and finished No. 8 in the nation. CARMELA LIWAG led South Florida, batting 6-for-14 last week with two doubles, one home run and two RBI. LEIGH ANN ELLIS captured one win and a save to improve her conference-leading record to 29-7. In 19.2 innings pitched, she struck out 23, while giving up six runs and seven walks. South Florida leads C-USA in runs scored (303), runs batted in (268), hits (497), total bases (681), doubles (70) and triples (12). The Bulls will take on Houston in the final weekend series of regular season play.

SOUTHERN MISS (25-26, 10-11 in 2003): Southern Miss went 4-0, defeating SE Louisiana and UAB. The Golden Eagles have now won seven of its last 10 games. They produced three-straight shutouts and batted .320 as a team last week. HEATHER BELL and ASHLEY DAVIS have been hot at the plate recently. Last week, Bell was .667 in the four games (6-for-9 with two home runs and four RBI), and Davis hit 7-for-11, .636, with three doubles, improving her season total to a team-best 10 doubles. Bell is also batting .347 against C-USA opponents. Southern Miss had posted seven-consecutive losses in Sunday games, before defeating East Carolina, 4-3, on Sunday. The last four games on USM's schedule are on the road, as the Golden Eagles face nationally-ranked LSU on Tuesday in a single game, and travel to Birmingham, Ala., for their last league series of the year against UAB.

UAB (27-23, 9-12 in 2003): The Blazers swept Charlotte last weekend. CLIFFANIE ENGRAM went .545 in the series with six hits, including two doubles. On the season, she is batting .253 and leads the team with 25 runs scored and 25 RBI. KELLI THOMPSON pitched 11.2 innings and gave up only one earned run and struck out eight in the three-game series against the 49ers. Thompson currently leads UAB with a 1.88 ERA and is only one strikeout from her 100th of the season. UAB will host Samford on Tuesday, before taking on Southern Miss in the final weekend of regular season play. The Blazers are in a hunt for one of the final two berths to the C-USA Tournament. This weekend, UAB must win at least two against the Golden Eagles to clinch a spot.

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.


WIN STREAKS
With a 1-1 tie against No. 21 Illinois last week, the Blue Demons had its 21-game win streak snapped, which ranked second on the all-time list. Here's a look at the longest win streaks in league annals:

25 - Southern Miss (April 8-May 19, 2000)
21- DePaul (March 26, 2003-April 24, 2003)
19 - DePaul (March 24, 2000-April 14, 2001)
17- South Florida (Feb. 9-Mar. 7, 2003)
17 - Southern Miss (Feb. 29-March 18, 2000)
12 - DePaul (April 9-May 2, 2002 )
11- Houston (Feb. 1-Feb. 16, 2002)
11- South Florida (Mar. 9, 2002- Mar. 23, 2002)
10- UAB (Mar. 8, 2002-Mar. 26, 2002)
10 - Southern Miss (Feb. 13-Feb. 27, 2000)

WINNING BIG
Four different Conference USA teams have combined to post seven wins over Top 20 teams, including six victories over top 10 squads. Last season, C-USA defeated six nationally-ranked non-conference foes, but just one was ranked in the Top 10 at the time: Here's a look at this season's ranked wins:

2003 RANKED NON-CONFERENCE WINS
Feb. 8 DePaul 4, (7) LSU 0
Feb. 9 South Florida 5, (8) Oklahoma 4
Feb. 14 UAB 6, (8) Oklahoma 5
Feb. 15 South Florida 5, (17) Notre Dame 4
Mar. 1 Houston 3, (8) LSU 1
Mar. 9 DePaul 1, (1) UCLA 0
Mar. 13 DePaul 7, (3) Nebraska 2

MAKING PROGRESS
For the fourth year in a row, Conference USA teams are showing an improvement in non-conference action: League teams have won more than 60 percent of their non-league games in 2003. Here's a look at how the league has fared in non-conference action in all four years the league has had softball:

2003: 152-90-1 (.627)
2002: 180-125-1 (.589)
2001: 94-81-1 (.537)
2000: 78-71(.523)

DID YOU KNOW?
With 53 dingers on the season, Houston has broken the C-USA single-season record for home runs. KRISTEN GLOWACZ has also tied the single-season record with 14 this season. Former Golden Eagle Amy Berman posted 14 dingers in 2000.

TIEBREAKER POLICY
If a tiebreaker is needed to determine any of the tournament teams, the following procedure will be used.

A) When there is a tie involving three or more teams, the following procedure will be used?
(1) The won/lost percentage of the conference vs. conference games played among the tied teams.

Example: if A, B, and C are tied for second place, take A's records vs. B and C; B's record vs. A and C; and C's record vs. A and B. If the records are:

A is 2-1 vs. b
A is 2-1 vs. C
B is 1-2 vs. A
B is 1-2 vs. C
C is 1-2 vs. A
C is 2-1 vs. B

The result would be:
Second place - team A (4-2)
Third place - team C (3-3)
Fourth place - team B (2-4)

(2) If a tie between three or more teams persists, the won/loss percentage of the tied team vs. the no. 1 team (and proceeding down, if necessary) will be used.
(3) If two teams still are tied, the commissioner flips a coin
(4) If three or more teams still are tied, the commissioner conducts a draw for places.

B) When there is a two-team tie, the following system will be used to break the tie:
(1) The won/lost results of head-to-head conference competition between the two tied teams
(2) If a tie continues, the won/lost percentage of the two tied teams vs. the No. 1 team (and proceeding downward, if necessary)
(3) If a tie persists, it will be broken by a flip of the coin conducted by the commissioner.

THE C-USA CONSTANT
For the fourth straight year, C-USA has had three or more schools with 30-plus wins. This year, DePaul (39-5-1-1), South Florida (49-14) and Houston (34-20) all reached the 30-win plateau this season.

CHOUINARD'S CONFERENCE RECORD
DePaul's LINDSAY CHOUINARD has notched 12 wins in conference play this season and is only three victories away from tying her own record. She set the record last season with 15 conference wins.