Amber Maisonet (Newburgh, N.Y./Newburgh Free Academy) garners her first Player of the Week award of the 2006 campaign, while Albany's Casey Halloran (East Greenbush, N.Y./Columbia) continued her dominance on the mound and was named Pitcher of the Week for the fourth time this season. Maine’s Ashley Waters (Amesbury, Mass./Amesbury) earns her first Rookie of the Week award. The accolades were announced on Monday (May 8).
Maisonet provided a strong spark for the Great Danes in the second spot in the lineup last week. Her nine hits, a team-high over the last week, raised her season average to .343 for third-best on the team. In the opening game against Hartford, she was the only Great Dane to record a multiple-hit game, going 2-for-3 with two runs in the 8-5 win. She came back in the nightcap to finish a perfect 4-for-4 at the plate, the first time in her career that she has tallied four hits in a contest. The sophomore also scored seven runs to help her team to a 4-1 record to close out its regular season, tying for most on the team with leadoff hitter Maegan Larsen. Maisonet also stole three bases to add to her team-leading 22 on the year. Her 48 hits this season is second on the team, and she has scored 40 times to move into a tie for sixth place on the single-season charts.
Halloran hurled her third no-hitter and allowed only one earned run in more than 23 innings of work last week. In her first start of the week, she earned a victory in a 4-1 contest at Stony Brook, striking out 11 Seawolves and allowing no earned runs. The junior allowed one double in that game, the only extra-base hit she gave up all week. In her next start, she threw the first two innings and then came back to earn the save in the 8-5 win in the first game of a doubleheader over Hartford. She allowed no hits in her three innings of work, picking up her second save of the season. In the nightcap, she threw her third no-hitter of the year, the first UAlbany pitcher to do so in one season. Halloran also fanned 10, the eighth time this season she has tallied double-digit strikeouts. She allowed no hits in 10 innings of work on Saturday, and allowed just one earned run in the series finale at Hartford but fell 3-2 for just her seventh loss this season. Halloran lowered her 2006 ERA to 1.34, plus became the first Great Dane to strike out more than 200 batters in a season and now has 215. Her 24 wins is also four more than any UAlbany pitcher had ever recorded.
Waters batted .444 (4-for-9) this weekend against UMBC. She delivered the game-winning RBI single in the first game of Friday’s doubleheader and blasted a double, triple, scored a run and drove in another on the weekend. Waters posted a team-best .778 slugging percentage and was 1-for-1 in stolen base opportunities.