Boston University's Christy Leath (St. Charles, Mo./Francis Howell Central) has been named America East Player of the Week, while Albany's Leah McIntosh (Whitby, Ontario/Sinclair) takes home America East Pitcher and Rookie of the Week accolades. The awards were announced on Monday (February 26).
Leath batted .462 with a double, a triple and three RBIs leading the Terriers to a 3-2 mark at the UCF Tournament. She drove in the first two runs of the season, including the game-winner, in a win over UCF. Overall, she had six hits and four runs scored over the weekend.
McIntosh went 3-0 in her first week of colleigate softball, leading the Great Danes to a 4-3 mark during the weekend. The freshman hurler was the winning pitcher against Stetson, Alabama State and George Mason, throwing a complete game against the Patriots. McIntosh, who has a team-best 1.32 ERA, struck out a team-best 18 batters across 13.2 innings of work for UAlbany, allowing just two earned runs. She recorded the only shutout for the Great Danes, in the 6-0 win over George Mason, striking out a career-high nine batters in the contest. McIntosh is holding opposing batters to a .235 average.
TEAM-BY-TEAM NOTEBOOKS
Albany (4-3, 0-0 America East) opened up the season with a southern swing, splitting a doubleheader at Stetson and winning three out of five at the UCF Tournament... Junior outfielder Amber Maisonet (Newburgh, N.Y./Newburgh) led the Great Danes, batting .400 with eight hits, four runs scored and three RBI... Maisonet’s triple led to the first run scored in UAlbany’s 3-2 victory over Alabama State, and she recorded three RBI on two hits with two runs scored in a 13-3 rout of Boston U. on the final day of the Golden Knights’ tournament... Freshman right-hander Leah McIntosh (Whitby, Ontario/Sinclair) earned three of the Great Danes’ four wins last week... McIntosh, who has a team-best 1.32 ERA, struck out 18 batters across 13.2 innings of work, allowing just two earned runs... She was the winning pitcher against Stetson and Alabama State, and earned the team’s only shutout in a 6-0 win over George Mason, fanning a career-best nine batters... Senior infielder Kelly Ogden (Pine Bush, N.Y./Pine Bush) recorded a team-high seven RBI last week, going 3-for-3 on stolen base attempts, and hitting .304 with two home runs... The Great Danes have a week off before heading to Rock Hill, S.C. to participate in the Winthrop Tournament, starting on March 9.
Binghamton (0-0, 0-0 America East) opens up its sixth season at the NCAA Division I level March 2-4 at
the at Holiday Inn Express East Carolina Pirate Clash... It marks the first of three-consecutive tournaments the Bearcats will take part in to start the 2007 campaign... In addition to the Pirates, James Madison, Fordham and Delaware will also be competing. Binghamton is making its third consecutive appearance at the East Carolina Pirate Clash. The Bearcats went 1-4 in both 2005 and 2006... The host Pirates have defeat Binghamton in each of the past two seasons... James Madison and Delaware each defeated the Bearcats in 2005... The Bearcats are coming off 15-32 campaign in 2006. They finished sixth in the America East Conference with an 8-13 record... Binghamton returns four position players and two pitchers from last season’s squad... Senior infielders Mia Bieman (Wingham, Ontario/Briarcliff CC), Emilie Palmcrantz (Leskand Sweden/Long Beach CC) and Christine Quijano (Syracuse, N.Y./Westhill) along with sophomore outfielder Sandy Meadows (Huachuca City, Ariz) are the top returning position players... On the mound, sophomore Jessica Whitaker (Salinas, Calif./Buena) is the Bearcats’ top returnee from 2006 while fellow sophomore Patty Egan (Sierra Visita, Calif./Buena) returns after taking a medical redshirt last season... The top newcomers are junior outfielder Liz Sequeira (Longwood, Calif./Long Beach CC),
sophomore pitcher Cyrilla Suker (Voorheesville, N.Y./UMass Lowell) and freshman pitcher Nicole Constantatos (Commack, N.Y./Commack).
Boston University (3-2, 0-0 America East) opened its season on the right foot with a 11-0 convincing win over George Mason University on Friday... Senior pitcher Brittany Detwiler (Souderton, Pa./Souderton Area) threw the first no-hitter of her career, and first during head coach Shawn Rychcik's tenure at Boston U... The Terriers scored 11 runs on nine hits with sophomore catcher Christy Leath (St. Charles, Mo./Francis Howell Central) and senior Chiya Louie (Seattle, Wash./Ingraham) leading the charge with two hits apiece, while freshman Rachel Hebert (San Jose, Calif./Archbishop Mitty) drove in a team-high three RBI... The Terriers followed up with a 6-5 come-from-behind victory over host Central Florida, as sophomore Megan Coughlin's (Boca Raton, Fla./Olympic Heights) three-run home run cut the deficit to one and two runs in the fifth helped push them ahead of the Golden Knights... The Terriers dropped their next contest, 3-1, to Villanova, before rebounding with a 2-0 Alabama State... In the final game of the weekend, the Terriers fell, 13-3, to Albany, as the Great Dane's scored 13 runs in the fifth to defeat the Terriers.
Hartford (0-0, 0-0 America East) opens the 2007 season at the Charleston Southern Tournament on March 2-4. The Hawks will play six games at the tournament before heading to Florida for 10 contests at the Rebel Spring Games.
Maine (3-2, 0-0 America East) opened its 2007 season this weekend by going 3-2 at the Panera Bread Challenge in Chattanooga, Tenn... The Black Bears dropped both of their games on Friday, but regrouped to win the following three over the weekend, including a 5-3 win over Eastern Kentucky, a 5-2 win over host-school UT-Chattanooga and a 12-3 win over Saint Francis, Pa... Sophomore pitcher Jenna Balent (Conifer, Colo./Conifer) posted a 2-1 record over the weekend and a 2.37 ERA... She struck out 18 and walked just six batters... Ashley Waters (Amesbury, Mass./Amesbury) posted a .313 batting average with a team-leading three RBIs this weekend, including a 2-for-4 performance with three RBI in the win over Saint Francis... A pair of freshmen, Whitney Spangler (Canton, Ohio/Central Catholic) and Alexis Souhlaris (Derry, N.H./Pinkerton Academy) posted batting averages over .400 this past weekend... Spangler batted a team-best .429 with two RBI, while Souhlaris followed with a .412 average, two RBI and a perfect 4-for-4 in stolen base attempts... Maine returns to action this weekend as the Black Bears head to the state of Florida for their annual two week Spring Break trip... The Black Bears will begin their stretch with a doubleheader on Saturday versus IPFW.
UMBC (0-0, 0-0 America East) has met bad luck with the weather in the opening weeks of the season, as the scheduled season-opening Longwood Tournament was cancelled due to snow and the weekend double-header against Mount St. Mary’s has been postponed indefinitely due to field conditions... The Retrievers will open their season on Wednesday, Feb. 28, when they travel to George Washington... UMBC will host LaSalle in a double-header on Friday, March 2... The Retrievers return three of five all-conference players from last season, including America East Player of the Year Melanie Denischuk (Poway, Calif./Hugh Sutherland (Carstairs, Alberta)/Indian River CC/Auburn)... Denischuk set new school records for home runs (24), RBI (82), total bases (161) and slugging percentage (.880) in 2006... Denischuk led the nation in RBI per game last season... The senior first baseman has been named to the USA Softball Player of the Year Watch List... Also returning in all-conference first team third baseman Reilly Ward (Olney, Md./Sherwood), who ranks among UMBC’s all-time top 10 in many offensive categories... Shortstop Dana Shepherd (Columbia, Md./Oakland Mills) was an all-conference second team member in 2006.
Stony Brook (3-1, 0-0 America East) opened its season at UNC-Wilmington's Seahawk Classic... By virtue of a rainstorm, Stony Brook was declared champion of the tournament due to the inclement weather... On Friday, Stony Brook fell 9-8 to Delaware State but came back to beat Gardner-Webb, 12-3 in five innings... Sara Cerrone (Floral Park, N.Y./Floral Park) hit a grand slam in the loss to Delaware State and added a home run against Gardner-Webb. Samantha Posey (Nokesville, Va./Briarcliffe College), Marissa Fleury (Mahopac, N.Y./Mahopac) and Molly Kestranek (St. Mary's, GA/Fayetteville-Manilus) along with Cerrone all homered for the Seawolves against Gardner-Webb... On Saturday, Stony Brook topped UNC-Wilmington 5-3 behind the arm of freshman Alyssa Struzenberg and Posey who hit her second home run of the tournament... In the nightcap, Stony Brook came back to defeat Hampton, 2-1... Freshman Crista Cerrone (Floral Park, N.Y./Floral Park) scored the game winning run off a wild pitch to send the Seawolves into the tournament championship... The Seawolves travel to Miami, Fla where they will compete in the FIU Blue-Gold Tournament... They will face UNC-Wilmington at 11 AM.
Vermont (0-5, 0-0 America East) started off the 2007 season by dropping five straight at the Panera Bread Tournament hosted by Tennessee-Chattanooga... The Catamounts lost their season opener against Akron 5-4 and then lost to the tournament host Lady Mocs that same day, 4-0... On Saturday UVM fell to Miami (Ohio) 7-3 and then got nipped by St. Francis (Pa.) 3-2 in eight innings... Junior Aimee Kern (Wrentham, Mass./King Philip) only allowed one earned run in the loss to the Red Flash while striking out eight... The Catamounts wrapped up the tournament with a 2-0 loss to Eastern Kentucky on Sunday... Kern struck out nine in the loss... Junior Elena Rizza (Palo Alto, Calif./Palo Alto) leads Vermont offensively through five games with a .357 average... The Catamounts return to action this weekend when they travel to take part in the East Carolina Invitational in Greenville, N.C.