April 24, 2006

FULLERTON, CA - A huge weekend in Northern California has netted the Cal State Fullerton softball team a sweep of the Big West Conference weekly softball awards for the second straight week as senior Marissa Marzan and junior Candice Baker were named Big West Pitcher and Player of the Week, respectively, on Monday morning.

Marzan earned her first pitcher of the week honor of the season and joins Baker (March 27 and April 17) as Titan hurlers honored this season. Baker earned her first player of the week honor and becomes the third Titan (Crystal Vieyra on Feb. 20 and April 17 and Kiki Munoz on April 3) to be honored as conference player of the week this season.

The duo helped to lift the Titans to their first sweep of a Big West opponent this season, outscoring host Pacific, 24-3, in the three game series, including a pair of run-rule victories.

Marzan allowed just one unearned run on six hits in 14-plus innings, going 3-0 in the circle and tossing her first career perfect game in Sunday's six-inning series finale. She allowed only two balls to leave the infield in achieving perfection, needing only 59 pitches to retire all 18 batters the Tigers sent to the plate.

Baker hit .444 on the weekend, including slugging three home runs and driving in seven to power Fullerton's offense. Entering the weekend hitting just .198, the junior raised her average almost 20 points, extended her hitting streak to five games and slugged her second career grand slam in game two.

Cal State Fullerton returns to action this week, opening a five-game non-conference homestand at Anderson Field. The Titans host UNLV in a doubleheader on Thursday (April 27) at 4 p.m. before hosting future conference rival UC Davis in a three-game series beginning on Saturday (April 30) at noon.