CAMBRIDGE, Mass. ? University of Maine junior infielder Ashley Waters (Amesbury, Mass./Amesbury) is the first America East Softball Player of the Week for the 2008 season. UMBC senior Ashley Gray (Pasadena, Md./Northeast/Delaware State) also took home an honor for the first week of the season, earning the conference’s Pitcher of the Week award. Click here for PDF release.
Waters batted .667 for the week in nine at bats. The junior swatted two extra base hits, including a double and a two-run blast in a 2-3 loss to host East Carolina on Saturday. Waters also drew two walks and avoided a strikeout. The Black Bears went 0-5 at the East Carolina Tournament for the week.
Gray pitched two beauties, but was a hard-luck loser at the UNC-Greensboro Spartan Classic as her offense could not get going behind her. She pitched two complete games, allowing just two earned runs, and four total runs. Gray struck out eight batters in 12 innings pitched, walked three and posted a 1.50 ERA. On the weekend, Gray held batters to a .234 average. The Retrievers went 1-3 on the week, including a win over James Madison on Sunday.
Team by Team Notebook:
Maine
(0-5, 0-0 America East) dropped all five games it played this past weekend at
the tough East Carolina Pirate Invitational in Greenville, N.C. ... Maine’s last
three games in the tournament were decided by a run each time ... The Tournament
featured teams from several major conferences, including the ACC (Boston
College), Conference USA (East Carolina) and the MAC (Ohio University) ... Junior
infielder Ashley Waters batted .667 during the weekend (6-for-9) with a home
run and two RBIs ... Alexis Souhlaris and Kirstin Allen each drove in a pair of
runs this past weekend ... Souhlaris also got a pair of starts in the pitching
circle, which marked the first pitching appearances of her collegiate career ...
She did not fair too bad in either one as she pitched a complete game both
times ... Versus Ohio University on Sunday, Souhlaris worked all nine innings and
yielded just one earned run on five hits despite suffering the loss ... Maine has
a pair of exhibition games before returning to regular season play on March 1
in the opening day of the Stetson Tournament in Deland, Fla.
UMBC (1-3, 0-0 America East) went 1-3 at the
season-opening UNC-Greensboro Spartan Classic... Senior Ashley Gray (Pasadena, Md./Northeast/Delaware
State) lost a 1-0 decision to Cleveland
State but did not allow
an earned run in the complete game and gave up just three hits and a walk... The
Retrievers took an early 3-0 lead against Central Michigan, but were doomed by the Chippewas’
seven-run third inning in the 8-3 loss... Gray pitched to another hard-luck loss
against the host Spartans, as the Retrievers fell, 3-0, and she allowed just
two earned runs... The Retrievers’ picked up their first victory of the season in
their final game of the tournament, defeating James Madison, 4-3... Third baseman
Emily Thompson (Niagara Falls,
N.Y./Niagara Falls) hit a two-run double to tie the game in the fourth... Freshman
Stephanie Weigman (Elkridge, Md./Archbishop Spalding) bounced back from a rough
debut to pick up the victory in relief... She pitched three scoreless innings and
allowed just two hits and one walk... Thompson led a sluggish Retrievers’
offense, hitting .417 (5-for-12) with two doubles and three RBI on the weekend...
Sophomore Amanda Fefel (Baltimore, Md./Catonsville) hit
.364 (4-for-11) with a triple, two RBI and three runs scored in four games... The
Retrievers next take on in-state rival Maryland
in a doubleheader on Feb. 21 before hosting Bucknell on Feb. 23 in UMBC’s home
opener.
No other America East teams were in action last week.