BOSTON? UMBC’s Ashley Gray (Pasadena, Md./Northeast/Delaware State) has been named America East Player of the Week, while her teammate Amanda Fefel (Baltimore, Md./Catonsville) takes home America East Pitcher and Rookie of the Week accolades. The awards were announced on Monday (March 26).
Gray helped lead UMBC to a 7-2 mark with her efforts at the plate and on the mound. She hit .429 (12-for-28) with three homers, two doubles and eight RBI and scored eight runs. Her 12 hits, 23 total bases and .821 slugging percentage led the Retrievers on the week. She posted a 1-1 record and a 1.11 ERA in 19.0 innings of work, allowing just three earned runs and striking out 16. Opposing batters hit just .200 against her and she pitched two complete games while also working in relief three times.
Fefel was a perfect 3-0 on the mound last week and boasted a 1.24 ERA in 17.0 innings of work, allowing just three earned runs and striking out 13. Opposing batters hit just .169 against her, and she pitched a complete game. In the first game of the Delaware State doubleheader, Fefel pitched five innings and allowed one earned run on four hits and struck out three for the win. Against Niagara, she pitched a complete game and allowed just one earned run on three hits and six strikeouts to pick up the victory. And against Cleveland State in the UMBC Spring Classic, Fefel pitched five innings, allowing just one earned run on four hits and four strikeouts for the win.
Fefel excelled both at the plate and on the mound, leading UMBC to a 7-2 record. She hit .333 (9-for-27) with three homers, a triple and a team-best 10 RBI and scored seven runs. She totaled 20 total bases for a .741 slugging percentage. Her efforts on the mound helped her earn pitcher of the week honors as she was 3-0 with a 1.24 ERA in 17.0 innings of work, allowing just three earned runs and striking out 13. Opposing batters hit just .169 against her and she pitched a complete game.
TEAM-BY-TEAM NOTEBOOKS
Albany Great Danes:
Albany (12-5, 0-0 America East) posted a 3-1 record at the Lehigh Equinox Tournament over the weekend... The Great Danes split games on the first day of play, defeating Iona, 7-4, before falling to the host Mountain Hawks, 9-3... UAlbany took both teams to extra innings on Sunday, coming away with a 7-6 win versus the Gaels and a 9-8 victory over Lehigh... Junior outfielder Amber Maisonet (Newburgh, N.Y./Newburgh) led the Great Danes with a .600 average, recording nine hits, including a triple, scoring five runs and driving in two more... In the win over Lehigh on Sunday, Maisonet went 2-for-3 with two hits, two runs and two RBI... Senior Casey Halloran (East Greenbush, N.Y./Columbia) recorded two wins in three appearances in the tournament... Halloran recorded a 1.93 ERA in 14 innings pitched, allowing just three earned runs and striking out eight opposing batters... Freshman catcher Kat Smith (Pasadena, Texas/Pasadena Memorial) started all four games at catcher, finishing with a .429 average... She recorded six hits, including two doubles and her first career home run, scoring two runs and recording three RBI... Sophomore infielder Meagan Butsch (Tomball, Texas/Tomball) led the team with four RBI, recording three hits, including a triple... The Great Danes will host crosstown-rival Siena on Wednesday in a doubleheader starting at 2 p.m... UAlbany will kick off America East Conference play on Saturday and Sunday with a three-game series at Boston U.
Binghamton Bearcats:
Binghamton (2-9, 0-0 America East) was not in action this week due to inclement weather... The Bearcats return to action on Thursday at St. Francis (Pa.) before opening up conference play at Hartford this weekend.
Boston University Terriers:
Last week, Boston University's (15-6, 0-0 America East) five games were postponed due to wet field conditions... Games originally scheduled with Boston College, Central Connecticut and the University of Rhode Island have been postponed until further notice... The Terriers host Harvard on Thursday, March 29 in a doubleheader beginning at 2:30 p.m., and will open conference action on Saturday, March 31 vs. Albany at Boston U.'s Softball Field... The doubleheader with Albany begins at 1 p.m... Last season, the Terriers finished the conference slate with an 11-10 league mark and made it to the championship game of the America East Tournament vs. Albany.
Hartford Hawks:
Hartford (9-9, 0-0 America East) split a doubleheader at Army in its only action last week... The Hawks dropped the first game 1-0 despite a solid pitching performance from freshman Brittney Stratton (Staten Island, N.Y./Tottenville), who allowed only four hits in the game and yielded the run on a illegal pitch call with the bases loaded... Classmate Gina Massaro (Havertown, Pa./Archbishop Prendergast) picked up the Hawks in the second game, allowing just one run on two hits in a complete-game 4-1 victory... Sophomore Amanda Sais (Tustin, Calif./Tustin) went 3-for-3 at the plate with a triple and an RBI and scored twice... She also scored the go-ahead run in the fourth on an RBI single by sophomore Danielle Glantz (Springfield, Mass./Cathedral), the first RBI of her collegiate career... Senior Nikki Thompson (West Seneca, N.Y./John F. Kennedy) leads the team with a .288 batting average and 11 RBI on the season... Stratton leads the pitching staff with a 1.39 ERA and is 6-4 in 13 appearances... Hartford will play at Rhode Island on Wednesday, March 28 before opening its America East schedule against Binghamton over the weekend... The Hawks and Bearcats will play a doubleheader on Saturday, March 31 before wrapping the series up with a single game on Sunday, April 1.
Maine Black Bears:
Maine (15-15, 0-0 America East) won two of three games this weekend to even its overall record at 15-15... The Black Bears split its Saturday doubleheader against Big East-foe Rutgers, including a 4-3 win in the first game... Maine closed out play in the Scarlet Knight Tournament on Sunday with a 2-0 blanking of Saint Peter’s... Freshman pitcher Jessica Ghazali (Waimanalo, Hawai’i/University) tossed a three-hit shutout in the win over Saint Peter’s... She pitched 7.2 innings this weekend and did not give up a run and not allow a hit... Ashley Waters (Amesbury, Mass./Amesbury) and Whitney Spangler (Canton, Ohio/Central Catholic) each batted a team-best .364 during the weekend... Spangler homered and drove in a team-best three runs this weekend, while Waters smacked a pair of doubles ... Maine will open America East play on this weekend when the Black Bears travel to Baltimore, Md., to face UMBC.
UMBC Retrievers:
UMBC (11-6, 0-0 America East) went 7-2 last week, sweeping a doubleheader at Delaware State and dropping both games of a doubleheader at George Mason before winning five straight at the UMBC Spring Classic over the weekend... After averaging just 3.6 runs per game in their first eight games of the season, the Retrievers scored 6.4 runs per game in the nine games last week... Similarly, reigning America East Player of the Year Melanie Denischuk (Poway, Calif./Hugh Sutherland (Carstairs, Alberta)/Indian River CC) hit just .136 with no homers and three RBI in the first eight games, but batted .360 with two home runs and eight RBI in the nine games last week... Newcomers Amanda Fefel (Baltimore, Md./Catonsville) and Ashley Gray (Pasadena, Md./Northeast/Delaware State) each had an outstanding week both at the plate and on the mound... Fefel hit .333 (9-for-27) with three homers, 10 RBI and a .741 slugging percentage and also pitched to a 3-0 record and 1.24 ERA with 13 strikeouts in 17.0 innings of work, as opponent batters hit just .169 off her... Gray hit a team-best .429 (12-for-28) with three homers, eight RBI and an .821 slugging percentage and also pitched to a 1.11 ERA with two complete games and 16 strikeouts in 19 innings, holding opponent batters to a .200 average... Senior catcher Krissy Licursi (Sussex, N.J./Vernon Township/Sussex CC) is batting a team-best .340 and hit .435 (10-for-23) last week... UMBC takes on Howard in a doubleheader on Tuesday before opening conference play at home against Maine on Saturday and Sunday.
Stony Brook Seawolves:
Stony Brook (8-8, 0-0 America East) hosted the Stony Brook Invitational this past weekend and went 1-2... In the 4-2 victory over Quinnipiac, Ashley Westphal (Huntington Beach, Calif./Edison) and Marissa Fleury (Mahopac, N.Y./Mahopac) each homered in the first inning to give the Seawolves an early 3-0 lead... Freshman Alyssa Struzenberg (Cooper City, Fla./Cooper City) picked up the victory going 6.1 innings... Christina Voth (Orange, Calif./Lutheran) got the save retiring the final two batters of the game... In the first game of the tournament, Stony Brook fell to Fairfield, 5-3... Marissa Fleury went 2-2 with a home run and two RBI... Fleury drove in Westphal with an RBI in the first inning and homered in the third... Westphal and Sara Cerrone (Floral Park, N.Y./Floral Park) also had two hits against Fairfield... In the final game of the tournament, the Seawolves fell 3-0 to LIU... Vicki Kavitsky (Cherry Hill, N.J./Cherry Hill East) had the lone hit against LIU, a double off the center field fence. Stony Brook begins a seven-game homestand beginning with a doubleheader against Army on Wednesday, March 28. Stony Brook plays doubleheaders against Manhattan (March 29) and Vermont (March 30) followed by a single game against the Catamounts on Sunday, April 1.
Vermont Catamounts:
Vermont (7-13, 0-0 America East) was off last week... The Catamounts return to action this weekend when they open America East play at Stony Brook for a three-game set starting on Saturday at noon... Vermont defeated the Seawolves 3-2 in eight innings when the two teams met in the conference opener two seasons ago... Junior Sarah Toczylowski (Reading, Mass./Reading Memorial) is leading the team in hitting, batting .338 (22-for-65) after only hitting .174 with 15 hits during her sophomore season... Toczylowski has already surpassed her RBI total from all of last year as well with seven this year compared to five in 2006... Junior Aimee Kern (Wrentham, Mass./King Philip) went 5-1 with a 1.10 earned run average and 50 strikeouts in 38.1 innings pitched in UVM's Florida trip... Kern has six of the team's seven wins on the season.