CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Stony Brook University's Marissa Fleury (Mahopac, N.Y.) and Alyssa Stuzenberg (Cooper City, Fla.) helped their softball program extended its win streak to eight games and have been named America East Player and Pitcher of the Week, respectively for their efforts. Additionally, University of Hartford's Shannon Simpkins helped her squad earn its first wins of the season to earn Rookie of the Week honors. The award winners for the week ending March 22 were announced Monday.
Fleury, a senior first baseman, batted .600 (9-for-15) with six extra-base hits and 10 RBI to lead the defending conference champions to five wins and the Stony Brook Invitational crown last weekend. She homered in four straight games, doubled twice and scored six runs as well.
Struzenberg, who rose up to third on Stony Brook's all-time win list, was the winning pitcher in three of those contests. A junior right-hander, the 2008 America East Pitcher of the Year allowed just three runs on six hits over 15 1/3 innings of work. Struzenberg struck out 28, an average of 12.7 punchouts per seven innings, and walked just five.
Simpkins, a freshman outfielder, reached base nine times in seven games last week and crossed the plate five of those times. For the week she batted .316 (6-for-19) and, including her first collegiate home run, and also worked three walks. Simpkins, who was a perfect 3-for-3 in stolen base attempts, also went 2-for-4 and scored two of Hartford's four runs in a 4-2 win over Rider Saturday.
Team Notebooks
Albany (11-7) enters this week having won five of its past six games ... The squad, which has already posted two victories over 2008 NCAA Tournament teams, has only played one game since Monday, March 9 ... Junior pitcher Leah McIntosh (Whitby, Ontario/Sinclair), an all-conference first-team selection in 2008, has a 9-0 record and an 0.47 ERA this year ... She has also thrown two perfect games and six shutouts ... Junior Kat Smith (Pasadena, Texas/Pasadena Memorial) has now caught two perfect games and five no-hitters behind the plate ... Sophomores Gina Mason (Sacramento, Calif./El Camino) and Andrianna Walraven (Thompson Ridge, N.Y./Pine Bush), who were each named to the America East all-rookie team last season, have paced the offense this year ... Mason leads the team with a .349 batting average and 15 hits, and she has also driven in 10 runs ... Walraven hit her first three career home runs at Georgia Tech’s Buzz Classic, helping the squad finish 4-1 overall and fourth in the field of 19 teams ... Sophomore Kristine Bill (Woodland, Calif./Woodland), who had just eight hits and two RBI last season, leads the squad with 12 RBI and is batting .298 with 14 hits ... Junior Michelle Connors (Clifton Park, N.Y./Shenendehowa) and senior Meagan Butsch (Tomball, Texas/Tomball), both all-conference honorees last season, are chasing the program’s home run record this season with 18 and 17 to date, respectively ... Kelly Ogden ?07 hit 26 in her four-year career ... UAlbany has stolen 33 bases this season, while opponents have only recorded 12 ... Jess Bergin (New Windsor, N.Y./Newburgh Free Academy) is among the league leaders in stolen bases with 10 ... UAlbany will host crosstown-rival Siena in its home opener on Wednesday, March 25 .... The Great Danes have won six of the past seven games in the rivalry ... The squad’s America East schedule begins with a three-game series on March 28-29 at Boston University ... Last year, the Great Danes swept the three-game series between the schools in Albany to clinch the regular season title.
Binghamton (2-11) went 0-5 at the UMBC Spring Classic this weekend and its losing streak slid to nine games. The Bearcats lost to St. Francis 3-2 in eight innings and lost to Siena 7-2 on Saturday. On Sunday the Bearcats lost to Niagara 8-1, lost to UMBC 5-3 and finally dropped a nine-inning affair to Robert Morris 4-3 ... Against Siena, sophomore catcher Deannie Plemon (Irvine, Calif./ Woodbridge) and senior outfielder Sandy Meadows (Huachuca City, Ariz./ Buena) each had three hits ... Meadows and sophomore outfielder Kelly Schuldt (Lislie, N.Y./Whitney Point) each homered on the weekend ... Junior pitcher Cyrilla Suker (Voorheesville, N.Y./ UMass Lowell) struck out eight batters in nine innings against Robert Morris ...On the week, Plemon was the team's top hitter, batting .364 (4-for-11) and Suker had 14 strikeouts in 16 innings of work ... On the season, Meadows leads the Bearcats in the following offensive categories: hits (19), batting average (.442), runs (9), slugging percentage (.581), and on-base percentage (.478) ... Binghamton will return to action on Wednesday for their home opener against Marist in a doubleheader starting at 3 p.m and the team will also open America East play this weekend with three games at Stony Brook.
Boston University (16-7) continued its strong start to the season with a sweep of Columbia and a win over Lehigh, 10-3, before falling in its final game of the weekend to St. Joseph’s, 3-1. Junior hurler Cassidi Hardy (Jupiter, Fla./Jupiter) threw her second no-hitter of the season in the Terriers’ 2-0 victory over Columbia, becoming just the third BU pitcher to throw at least two no-hitters in one season and the first since the 1994 season. Audrey West ('96) threw four perfect games in 1994, the year she won her first AE Pitcher of the Year award, and Shannon Downey ('93) threw a no-hitter and a perfect game in 1993, also an AE Pitcher of the Year in that campaign. Hardy's first career no-hitter came just two weeks ago when she shut down Western Michigan on March 6 in a 4-0 victory. Senior Melissa Dubay (Auburn, Wash./Auburn Riverside) had a standout weekend in the batter’s box with seven runs batted in, two home runs and four runs. The Terriers’ shortstop, Dubay recorded a perfect fielding percentage.
Hartford (4-9) went 4-4 at the Rebel Spring Games in Kissimmee, FL ... Junior hurler Brittney Stratton (Statten Island, N.Y./Tottenville) earned three of the Hawks’ four victories, two of which were complete shutouts ... Stratton compiled 29 strikeouts while giving up three earned runs in 26.2 innings, boasting an ERA of 1.01 while holding her opponents to a .187 average ... The Hawks dropped a pair of games to open the Rebel Games, falling 5-2 to St. Peter’s and 2-1 to Colgate ... Left fielder Kristen Cericola (Morton, Pa./Ridley) went 3-for-3 with a two-run homerun to lead Hartford in game one and senior Lindsey Anrico (Trumbull, Conn./Trumbull) led the Hawks in the loss to Colgate, finishing 2-for-2 ... Hartford took two games on Wednesday, defeating Rhode Island 14-0 and Akron 2-1 ... Rookie pitcher Siera Sheehan (Binghamton, N.Y./Chenango Valley) pitched a five-inning shutout in the mercy-rule victory to earn her first collegiate victory and shutout ... Junior Ann Kyzer (Boxborough, Mass./Acton-Boxborough Reg.) went 2-for-3 with three runs and three RBI to lead the Hawks ... Stratton earned her first victory of the season in the game against Akron, giving up one earned run while striking out seven ... The Hawks split a pair of games on Friday, defeating Manhattan 8-0 and later falling 9-5 to Cornell ... Stratton struck out a season-high ten batters to blank Manhattan for her first shutout of the season ... Junior Rachel Clonick drove in four runs off two hits in three at-bats, including a three run homer, her first of the season ... In the final day of the Rebel Games, the Hawks split a doubleheader ... Stratton finished with a two-hit shutout to lead Hartford to a 4-0 victory against Rider ... In game two, Hartford was blanked by Wagner by a final score of 7-0.
Maine (20-13) swept its three games this weekend at Bryant University in Rhode Island ... Maine knocked off ACC-foe Boston College on Saturday by a score of 5-4 ... it marked Maine's second win over an ACC school this season, as the Black Bears also downed Virginia Tech last month ... Maine has also defeated a Big East team this season, as it handed South Florida a 1-0 setback earlier in March ... Maine concluded is strong play this past weekend with a Sunday doubleheader sweep of Bryant University ... the Black Bears downed the Bulldogs by a count of 12-7 in game one and 6-0 in game two ... Ashley Waters (Amesbury, Mass./Amesbury H.S.) batted .539 this weekend, including smacking four doubles, a triple, driving in a run and scoring four more ... she had three doubles in game one on Sunday versus Bryant ... Alexis Souhlaris (Derry, N.H./Pinkerton Academy) had a strong weekend in the pitching circle for the Black Bears by going 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA ... she started and went the distance in game two on S unday versus Bryant ... she scattered four hits over seven innings to pick up the win ... she pitched 5.2 innings of relief to get the win Saturday versus BC ... she scattered six hits over the five-plus innings and gave up just two unearned runs ... she struck out three during the weekend while walking only two ... Terren Hall (Bucksport, Maine/Bucksport H.S.) added to the Maine offensive attack in game one on Sunday versus Bryant ... she went 2-for-6 with four runs scored and five RBIs, including three coming off a three-run homer ... Maine opens conference play next weekend when it travels to Baltimore to face UMBC.
UMBC (17-9, 0-0 America East) went 6-1 last week and has won 16 of its last 19 games... Sophomore Julia Culotta (Street, Md./North Harford/Tennessee) went 3-for-4 with a double and a grand slam in a 13-4 six-inning victory in the first game of a doubleheader against Mount St. Mary’s... Junior Amanda Fefel (Baltimore, Md./Catonsville) was brilliant in the nightcap, allowing just one hit and two walks while striking out five in a 2-0 victory, her first shutout of the season... She lost a no-hitter in the sixth... The Retrievers went 4-1 at the UMBC Spring Classic to place second... UMBC defeated Siena, 6-3, in the first game ... Sophomore Stephanie Weigman (Elkridge, Md./Archbishop Spalding) tied her career high with 12 strikeouts in a 4-3 victory over St. Francis (Pa.)... Culotta went 2-for-3 with two doubles and three RBI in a 5-4 come-from-behind win over Robert Morris... UMBC’s 11-game winning streak was snapped with a 7-2 loss to Niagara... Weigman pitched four scoreless innings in relief in a 5-3 comeback victory over Binghamton, striking out eight of the 13 batters she faced and allowing just one baserunner... Sophomore Malorie Weller (Round Hill, Va./Loudoun Valley/Kennesaw State) went 2-for-3 with three RBI... Weigman has struck out 130 batters on the season, already the fifth-best single-season total in school history, and she now ranks third all-time at UMBC with 271 career whiffs... The Retrievers are batting .314 as a team with six starters batting better than .340, including Fefel with a team-high .461... Culotta, Fefel, sophomore Lauren O’Malley (Pasadena, Md./Archbishop Spalding) and sophomore Lauren Brummell (Hanover, Va./Hanover) all batted better than .400 last week... The Retrievers host cross-town rival Towson in a doubleheader on March 24, then open America East play with a three-game series against Maine March 28-29.
Stony Brook (12-3) extended its winning streak to eight-straight games as it posted a 5-0 record this week... the Seawolves started things off with a sweep of Yale, outscoring the Bulldogs 13-2 in the doubleheader... Marissa Fleury led the Seawolves with two home runs and five RBI against the Bulldogs, while Alyssa Struzenberg struck out 11 batters... Stony Brook then went on to win the Stony Brook Invitational over the weekend, beating Fairfield, Holy Cross and Quinnipiac in the round-robin style tournament... the Seawolves offense was on display again, as they outscored their opponents 18-7... Fleury homered twice more, giving her four-straight games with a home run... Struzenberg picked up two wins to move into third on Stony Brook’s all-time winningest pitcher list... she also struck out 14 of the 19 hitters she faced in the game against Fairfield, a new career-high for the junior... three Seawolves hit better than .400 in the week led by Fleury’s .600 average (9-15)... Molly Kestranek hit .563 (9-16) and Vicki Kavitsky posted a .421 average (8-19)... Stony Brook has seven games on the schedule this weekend, with a pair of mid-week doubleheaders against Rhode Island and Monmouth and then its first conference series at home against Binghamton.
Vermont (3-18, 0-0 America East) went 1-2 o the week with a series at Delaware State ... The Cats dropped the first game, 1-0 ... Vermont had only one hit in the contest, as freshman Rebecca Heimbigner (Napa, Calif./New Technology) doubled to left to open the game in the first ... Freshman Kellin Haley (Oceanside, Calif./Vista Murrieta) reached after being hit by a pitch in the second and stole a pair of bases, but was left stranded on third ... Sophomore Jocelyn Abaray (Acushnet, Mass./New Bedford) went the distance for the Cats, giving up only five hits and striking out four ... Vermont lost the second game of the day, 8-0 ... On Sunday the Cats earned a 2-1 victory in eight innings ... Junior Katherine Sisson (Underhill, Vt./Mt. Mansfield) scored the game-winning run in the top of the eighth and Abaray pitched a complete game to earn the win ... Sisson started off on second base in the extra frame and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Abaray ... She would then come in to score on a wild pitch to put Vermont on top, 2-1 ... Abaray allowed only six hits on the day and the only run given up was unearned ... The Catamounts return to action next weekend when they open America East action at Hartford on March 28-29 ... The two teams will play a doubleheader on Saturday starting at 1 p.m. and then a single game on Sunday at 12 p.m.