CLEVELAND-Ohio senior Erin Chapman (Beavercreek) was named the Mid-American Conference's Women's Scholar-Athlete and the East Division Player of the Week, the conference office announced Wednesday. It is the first time in her career that she has won the Scholar-Athlete honor and second time this season that she has garned player-of-the-week accolades.

Chapman becomes the fourth Bobcat to be honored for her efforts on and off the field this year following Laura Hageman (Sept. 16) of the Ohio volleyball team, Samantha Pfaller (March 2) of the Bobcat women's swimming and diving squad and Chris Bova (April 27) of the school's baseball team.

A 3.25 Anthropology major, Chapman posted a .571 (8-for-14) batting average with a double, a triple and three home runs in six games last week. She also drove in 10 runs, drew seven walks and had a .714 on-base percentage in those games. Chapman began the week by going 2-for-3 with a homerun and three RBI in the series finale vs. Akron on Monday and was 1-for-3 with a triple and two RBI in the second game of the Bobcats' doubleheader at Eastern Michigan on Wednesday. She finished the season in spectacular fashion on Saturday, going 5-for-7 in a doubleheader vs. Northern Illinois. Chapman was 2-for-3 with two home runs and five RBI in game one against the Huskies, four of which came on a walk-off grand slam in the bottom of the seventh inning, preserving the Bobcats hope of a postseason bid. She went 2-for-2 in game two of the doubleheader to help Ohio clinch its second trip to the MAC Tournament in three seasons.

Ohio (20-29, 13-11) heads the 2004 MAC Softball Tournament this week as the No. 5 seed and will face No. 4 Miami in the first round on Thursday. First pitch is set for 1:30 p.m. The winner advances to play No. 1 seed Central Michigan at 7:30 p.m.