BOSTON? Boston U.s Brandi Shields (Schereville, Ind./Lake Central) has been named America East Player of the Week, Stony Brook's Christina Voth (Orange, Calif./Lutheran) collects America East Pitcher of the Week, while Maine's Alexis Souhlaris (Derry, N.H./Pinkerton Academy) takes home America East Rookie of the Week accolades. The awards were announced on Monday (April 2).
Shields batted .438 during the week lifting the Terriers to a 3-2 record including a pair of wins over defending champion Albany in opening weekend of conference play. The senior second baseman belted a home run, a pair of doubles and drove in six. Shields posted a team-best seven hits during the week, scored four runs and was a perfect 3-for-3 in stolen bases. She currently ranks third in the conference in doubles and fourth in total bases. She becomes the fourth Terrier to win Player of the Week this season.
Voth earns pitcher of the week honors as she went 3-0 with a save to help power Stony Brook’s 6-1 record during last week. The senior pitcher tossed 15.2 innings allowing just two earned runs (1.15 ERA). Voth struck out 12 batters, allowing just three walks. She faced just eight batters in Stony Brook’s win over Manhattan, but recorded six strikeouts. She leads America East in ERA at a microscopic 1.22. Voth becomes the second Stony Brook player to win the award this season. Back on March 5, teammate Sarah Hoffman won the honor.
Souhlaris batted .417 leading Maine to a 2-1 mark at UMBC. The freshman outfielder went 3-for-4 with a home run and three RBI in Sunday’s 7-6 win over the Retrievers. Souhlaris ranks third in the conference in batting at .385 and second in hits with 37. She becomes the first Black Bear to win rookie of the week honors this season.
TEAM-BY-TEAM NOTES
Albany Great Danes
UAlbany (14-8, 1-2 America East) recorded a 2-3 record last week... The Great Danes split a non-conference doubleheader with crosstown-rival Siena before opening the America East schedule with a three-game series at Boston U... UAlbany defeated the Saints, 4-2, in game one before falling 5-3 in the second game... The Great Danes split the series-opening doubleheader with Boston U., defeating the Terriers 3-2 in the opener and dropping the nightcap 8-0... Boston U. claimed an 11-2 victory in the rubber game on Sunday... Senior third baseman Kelly Ogden (Pine Bush, N.Y./Pine Bush) led the team, recording a .312 average, posting five hits, including one double and one home run... Ogden, who entered the season at the top of UAlbany’s career RBI chart, has also taken over the top position in career home runs, with 21... Ogden recorded her fifth homer of the season in the series finale with Boston U... Freshman Nicole Kothe (Middletown, N.Y./Minisink Valley) recorded a .364 average last week, with four hits, including a triple, one run scored and one RBI... Senior right-hander Casey Halloran (East Greenbush, N.Y./Columbia) went 2-1 in three appearances with 10 strikeouts in 16.1 innings of work... Halloran leads the UAlbany staff with a 3.04 ERA and a team-best 51 strikeouts... The
Great Danes visit Marist on Tuesday for a non-conference matchup before hosting UMBC in America East action with a doubleheader on Friday starting at 2 p.m. and a single game scheduled for Saturday at noon.
Binghamton Bearcats
Binghamton (4-12, 1-2 America East) returned to the field for the first time in three weeks, following two consecutive weekends of poor weather conditions... Sophomore pitcher Cyrilla Suker (Voorheesville, N.Y./Voorheesville) recorded her third victory of the season on Sunday against Hartford... She entered the game in the second inning and tossed six shutout innings to raise her record to 3-2... The Bearcats defeated the host Hawks 6-2... Sophomore pitcher Patty Egan (Sierra Vista, Ariz/Buena), who missed all of last season with an injury, notched her first victory of the season in a 3-1 win at St. Francis on Thursday. She scattered one run on six hits and struck out three batters... Sophomore first baseman Michelle Robb (Cumberland, Maine/Greely) went 6-for-18 (.333) in Binghamton's five games last week to raise her average to .298 for the season ... Senior outfielder Sarah Eppolito (Fayetteville, N.Y./Fayetteville-Manlius) went 5-for-16 in the Bearcats' five games last week. She drove in a pair of runs in the Bearcats' 6-2 win at Hartford on Sunday.
Boston University Terriers
Boston University (18-8, 2-1 America East) picked up two important conference wins last week when they took the rubber match against Albany, 11-2... The Terriers started off the week splitting with Harvard, which included an 8-0 win in six inning and a 3-2 loss in nine... Boston U. followed up by taking the weekend series with Albany in the conference opener... The Terriers dropped the first match, 3-2, but rebounded with an 8-0 triumph... They then took the rubber match on Sunday, winning 11-2... America East Player of the Week Brandi Shields (Schererville, Ind./Lake Central) and sophomore catcher Christy Leath (St. Charles, Mo./Francis Howell Central) surged on he offensive front, averaging .438 and .385, respectively, on the week... Shields and Leath each knocked in six RBI, while freshman first baseman Rachel Hebert (Humble, Texas/Humble) led with nine... The Terriers broke a single-season school record for home runs in a season, as they now have 31 on the year... Hebert is two home runs shy of breaking the freshman home run record of nine, set by teammate Chiya Louie (Seattle, Wash./Ingraham) in 2004... Freshman starter Megan Currier (Torrance, Calif./Torrance) held opponents to four earned runs in three appearances last week, while striking out 10 batters, improving her record to 7-2... Senior Brittany Detwiler (Souderton, Pa./Souderton Area) pitched a complete, shutout game vs. Albany on March 31 and is now 4-2 on the year... The Terriers take on Big East opponent Connecticut in a doubleheader beginning at 2:30 on Wednesday, April 4, before resuming conference play with a weekend series at Binghamton.
Hartford Hawks
Hartford (11-12, 2-1 America East) went 2-3 last week, but picked up a pair of conference wins against Binghamton... The Hawks started the week by losing a doubleheader at Rhode Island by final scores of 9-7 and 4-0... Hartford then swept the Saturday doubleheader from the Bearcats by 7-2 and 3-1 finals before dropping the series finale 6-2 on Sunday... Freshmen pitchers Brittney Stratton (Staten Island, N.Y./Tottenville) and Gina Massaro (Havertown, Pa./Archbishop Prendergast) each picked up complete-game wins in the doubleheader sweep over Binghamton... Stratton gave up two runs on five hits while striking out three, while Massaro yielded one run on five hits while striking out four... Senior Kristie Rochette (Meriden, Conn./Lyman Hall) led the Hawks in hitting for the week with a .375 average with a pair of doubles and one RBI. She also moved into fifth place all-time at the school for career doubles with 28 and needs just four more to tie the record... Freshman Rachel Clonick (Hilton, N.Y./Hilton) batted .286 with a team-high four RBI last week. Three of her four hits went for extra bases, including a two-run triple that plated the game-winning runs in the second game against Binghamton... Stratton is 7-5 overall with a team-best 1.67 ERA. She has worked the most innings (88.0) of the staff and also leads the team in strikeouts (82)... Hartford is scheduled to play seven games this week, including a three-game conference series against Vermont over the weekend... The Hawks will also play mid-week doubleheaders against Sacred Heart and Fairfield.
Maine Black Bears
Maine (17-16, 2-1 America East) took two of three from UMBC this weekend to win the America East regular-season opening series between both teams... The Black Bears improved to 9-0-1 in their last 10 regular season conference series dating back to the 2005 season... Maine won, 3-1, in a marathon 13-inning game on Saturday in the first contest of a doubleheader... The game was scoreless going into the 13th inning before Kristen Calvetti (Milford, N.H./Milford)
cranked a three-run homer to lift the Black Bears to the victory... Freshman starting pitcher Christine McGivney (Burr Ridge, Ill./Hinsdale Central H.S.) worked 12 innings of the contest to earn the win and raise her record to 5-5 on the season... In 12 innings of work McGivney yielded just one run on 10 hits with four strikeouts and only two walks... Jenna Balent (Conifer, Colo./Conifer) got the save, her first of the season... Balent also earned the win in relief in Sunday’s contest... Alexis Souhlaris (Derry, N.H./Pinkerton Academy) had a strong day offensively on Sunday as she went 3-for-4 with three RBI, two runs scored, including a two-run homer... Maine returns to action next weekend for its 2007 home opener... The Black Bears will face Stony Brook in a doubleheader on Saturday at 12 p.m., and then face the Seawolves in a single game on Sunday at 11 a.m.
UMBC Retrievers
UMBC (14-8, 1-2 America East) went 3-2 on the week, sweeping a doubleheader from Howard before winning just one of three contests against America East rival Maine over the weekend... The Retrievers hit four home runs in the first game against the Bison, and freshman Amanda Fefel (Baltimore, Md./Catonsville) and senior Jessica Taylor (Baltimore, Md./Mount de Sales) combined on a two-hitter... Senior catcher Krissy Licursi (Sussex, N.J./Vernon Township/Sussex
CC) went 4-for-6 in the doubleheader... Junior Ashley Gray (Pasadena, Md./Northeast/Delaware State) pitched 12 scoreless innings in the first game of the Maine doubleheader, but suffered the loss when she allowed a three-run homer in the 13th... Gray struck out 12 in the game and retired the first 10 batters she faced and 15 in a row later on, taking a one-hitter into the 10th inning... Fefel pitched six scoreless innings in game two, allowing just two hits and two walks and combining with Taylor for the shutout, just UMBC’s second of the season... Fefel retired the first eight batters of the game and had a no-hitter through 4.2 innings... UMBC took a 5-3 lead into the sixth inning of the rubber match against the Black Bears... Senior first baseman Melanie Denischuk (Poway, Calif./Hugh Sutherland (Carstairs, Alberta)/Indian River CC/Auburn) has seven hits in her last seven at-bats and has reached base in nine straight plate appearances spanning her last two games... UMBC takes on Georgetown in a doubleheader on Tuesday before heading to Albany to take on the defending conference champions in a three-game series on Friday and Saturday.
Stony Brook Seawolves
Stony Brook (14-9, 2-1 America East) went 6-1 in both non-conference and America East play... Stony Brook swept doubleheaders against Army and Manhattan... In the 12-0 win over Army in game one, Sarah Hoffman (Commack, N.Y./Commack) was perfect for 4 1/3 innings before giving up a hit... Hoffman picked up her fifth win of the season... Kelsi Fanelli (Audubon, N.J./Audubon) and Marissa Fleury (Mahopac, N.Y./Mahopac) each hit home runs on the day. Sara Cerrone (Floral Park, N.Y./Floral Park) had a perfect 3-3 day with two runs and two RBI... In game two, Fleury hit her second home run on the day, a three run homer... Ashley Westphal (Huntington Beach, Calif./Edison) Vicki Kavitsky (Cherry Hill, N.J./Cherry Hill East) and Molly Kestranek (St. Mary's, GA/Fayetteville-Manilus) each had a double in the 8-0, game two win over Army. In the 3-2, game one, win over Manhattan, Fleury had a clutch two-run single in the bottom of the fifth to give the Seawolves the lead for good... America East Pitcher of the Week Christina Voth (Orange, Calif./Lutheran) got the win in relief, retiring all eight batters in relief having struck out six of them... In game two, Hoffman gave up only two runs and Kavitsky, Fleury and Samantha Posey (Nokesville, Va./Briarcliffe) each had two hits in the 8-0 win... Stony Brook opened America East play against Vermont on Saturday... In game one, the Seawolves only managed four hits off Vermont starter Aimee Kern and fell, 4-0... In game two, Voth pitched a gutty six plus innings and evened her record at 5-5... Kavitsky, Kestranek and Kelly Oberto (Spring Lake Heights, N.J./Manasquan) combined for six of the Seawolves' seven hits in the 3-2 win... On Sunday, Stony Brook got to starter Aimee Kern early, scoring two runs and getting three hits in the first inning. Jade Clare (Federal Way, Wash./Todd Beamer) hit her first collegiate home run and Kelsi Fanelli added a blast later in the game... Stony Brook roughed Kern up for 11 hits in the 7-3 win... Stony Brook goes out of conference for a doubleheader at Fairleigh Dickinson on April 4 before travelling to Orono, Maine to face the Black Bears in a three-game set beginning on Saturday, April 7.
Vermont Catamounts
Vermont (8-15, 1-2 America East) was back in action this weekend for the first time since March 17 as the Catamounts opened America East action with a three game set at Stony Brook... Vermont took the first game 4-0 behind a four-hit shutout from junior Aimee Kern (Wrentham, Mass./King Philip)... Kern struck out six and did not allow a runner to reach third until the final inning of play... She also went 2-for-4 at the plate with a home run and three runs batted in... In the second contest the Seawolves led 3-0 heading into the top of the seventh when UVM threatened, scoring twice, but came up just short... Kern scored on a passed ball and sophomore Casey Fleming (Townsend, Mass./Lawrence Academy) had a RBI single in the frame... Stony Brook was also victorious in the rubber game on Sunday, winning 7-3... Vermont has now
opened league play in two of the last three seasons with victories over the Seawolves, as the Catamounts also downed Stony Brook 3-2 on April 3, 2005 ... UVM entered the weekend with two home runs as a team in its first 20 games of the season, but hit three in the weekend series, including two by Kern ... Sunday was the 23rd straight game away from home for the Catamounts who will play their home opener on Thursday when they host Siena in doubleheader action ... Vermont will also travel to face Hartford over the weekend for three games.