CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - As conference play in America East softball heats up, so have three standouts who have combined for 10 weekly awards after the receiving at least their second honor of the season Tuesday. Stony Brook University's Vicki Kavitsky (Cherry Hill, N.J.) picked up her second Player of the Week honor, while University at Albany's Leah McIntosh was named Pitcher of the Week for the fourth time this season and Boston University's Emily Roesch garnered Rookie of the Week accolades for the third time.
Kavitsky, a junior shortstop, led the Seawolves to five wins in seven games by batting .458 with five extra-base hits, five RBI and a whopping 13 runs scored. The leadoff hitter recorded four multi-hit games and scored at least one run in all seven games last week, including five games with at least two runs scored.
McIntosh, a junior ace, continued her superb season by throwing her fourth perfect game to highlight another award winning week. She made four appearances, going 3-0 with a save, and allowed no runs in 20 innings of work. McIntosh, who ranks among national leaders in ERA and strikeouts, walked just two and struck out 42 last week. she struck out 15 Catamounts in her perfecto on Wednesday to take home her fourth Pitcher of the Week honor this season.
Roesch, a freshman, picked up her third Rookie honor of the season after batting .333 with four runs scored and three driven in. Her best game of the week came in a win over Holy Cross where Roesch went 3-for-3 with a double, a pair of RBI and three runs scored.
Team-By-Team Weekly Notebook
Albany (28-10, 9-3 America East) used superb pitching and timely hitting to post a 7-0 record this past week and extend its winning streak to a league-best eight games ... Four of the wins were by three runs or less ... The team swept a doubleheader against Manhattan, the second-place team in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, before sweeping a doubleheader on the road against Vermont as well as a three-game set at Binghamton ... Leah McIntosh (Whitby, Ontario/Sinclair) pitched her fourth perfect game of the year and Marissa Powell (Midlothian, Texas) followed up with her first career no-hitter to help the Great Danes sweep Vermont on the road by scores of 2-0 and 12-0 ... Powell, who had a 0.28 ERA in five appearances, took a perfect game into the fourth until the leadoff hitter struck out swinging and advanced to first on a wild pitch ... The duo has combined to pitch five no-hitters this season, which is a Division I school record ... McIntosh and Powell have also combined to pitch 44 consecutive innings without allowing an earned run to score, and their combined ERA of 2.04 is a league-best mark ... Opponents only batted .081 this past week ... Meagan Butsch (Tomball, Texas/Tomball) hit four home runs, including three which stood as game-winning hits, and finished with 13 RBI and a .381 batting average in the seven wins ... Gina Mason (Sacramento, Calif./El Camino) hit her second career grand slam to spark the 14-0 win over Binghamton on Sunday ... Her solo home run in the first game of the series stood as the game-winning hit in the Great Danes’ 1-0 win ... UAlbany committed only three errors, while opponents ended the week with 15 ... UAlbany hosts Vermont in a doubleheader on Wednesday, April 22 before traveling to Maine for a three-game set over the weekend.
Binghamton (5-29, 0-14 America East) was 0-3 last week ... The Bearcats were swept at home by Albany with scores of 1-0, 7-1 and 14-0. Binghamton has lost nine games in a row, marking the third nine-game skid of the season ... Junior Cyrilla Suker (Voorheesville, N.Y./ UMass Lowell) battled Albany's Leah McIntosh in game one of the series with Great Danes but was the hard-luck losing pitcher in the 1-0 loss ... In the second game of the series Binghamton lost 7-1, but was able to muster a run when junior Stephanie Kolodzieski (Endicott, N.Y./Union-Endicott HS/Fordham Univ.) doubled in sophomore Deannie Plemon (Irving, Calif./Woodbridge) in the fifth inning ... The Bearcats were outmatched by the Great Danes in the 12-0 series finale on Sunday ... On the week, a pair of Bearcats achieved some program milestones. Senior Sandy Meadows (Huachuca City, Ariz/Buena) moved into sole possession of fourth place on Binghamton's Division I career hits list with 115 and Suker moved into second on the school's career Division I strikeout list with 319 ... This week the Bearcats will host Colgate in a "Think Pink" Campaign on Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. in a doubleheader ... Following that game, BU will welcome in UMBC for the finale of their three-game series with the Retrievers ... This weekend, the Bearcats will travel to Hartford for their second to last America East series of the year.
Boston University (30-15, 8-5 America East) went 3-3 last week, earning a doubleheader sweep over Holy Cross and a 12-inning marathon victory over Stony Brook before dropping the next two games against the Seawolves ... The Terriers are currently half a game ahead of UMBC for third-place in the current standings and will next host Maine on Wednesday at 3 p.m. ... Senior Shayne Lotito (Acton, Calif./Vasquez) hit a game-tying solo home run in the seventh inning against Stony Brook before the Terriers eventually pulled out the 6-5 victory ... She also went 4-for-6 with a home run and six RBI to help the Terriers knock off Holy Cross in two games ... Senior Cassidi Hardy (Jupiter, Fla./Jupiter) pitched all 12 innings against the Seawolves for the win and also earned a shutout victory against the Crusaders ... Senior Melissa Dubay (Auburn, Wash./Auburn Riverside) is inching up on history, as she is now within five RBIs of breaking former teammate Chiya Louie’s career record, currently set at 124 ... The Terriers are currently half a game ahead of UMBC and Maine for third-place in the current standings and will next host the Black Bears on Wednesday at 3 p.m. ... The two teams split a doubleheader at Maine on April 8 ... The Terriers then head to Vermont for a three-game series this weekend.
Hartford (16-18, 7-6 America East) went 3-5 this past week, picking up a pair of wins against Fairfield and taking the first contest of a three-game series with Maine ... Junior hurler Brittney Stratton (Statten Island, N.Y./Tottenville) chalked up her 44th career win in a 2-1 defeat of Maine on Saturday to become the all-time winning pitcher in the program’s history ... The Hawks wrapped up the three-game series with Boston University on Monday, falling 3-0 to open the week ... In non-conference action, Hartford dropped a pair of games against Rhode Island on Tuesday and swept a doubleheader with Fairfield on Thursday ... Amanda Sais (Tustin, Ca./Tustin) scored four of Hartford’s 14 runs in the Hawks’ 10-2 and 4-2 victories over Fairfield ... Four Hawks recorded multiple hits in game one against the Stags, with Sais and Sara Messinger (New Egypt, N.J./New Egypt) leading the offense ... Messinger tallied three hits ? all doubles ? while knocking in three runs and scoring twice ... Junior Ann Kyzer (Boxborough, Mass./Acton-Boxborough Regional) drove in two runs off her third homer of the season in the opening game with the Stags ... Kyzer also knocked in the game-winning run in the series opener with Maine, boosting her RBI total to a team-high 23 ... Stratton threw every pitch of the three game series with Maine, combining for 15 strikeouts in 21.0 innings to finish 1-2 ... Up next for the Hawks is a single game rubber-match with Stony Brook in West Hartford on Wednesday, followed by a three-game weekend series with Binghamton at the UH Softball Field.
Maine (28-19, 8-6 America East) took two-of-three from Hartford last weekend in Orono ... Maine is 6-1 in its last seven games ... senior pitcher Jenna Balent (Conifer, Colo./Conifer H.S.) went 2-0 on the weekend, including a 3-0 win in Saturday’s second game of the doubleheader, and a 4-1 win on Sunday ... Balent’s string of five-straight, complete-game shutouts came to an end on Sunday, but she still ran her streak of consecutive complete-game victories to six ... Hartford’s run in the sixth inning of Sunday’s game brought and end to Balent’s eye-popping 38-straight innings without yielding a run ... Balent ran her record to 10-3 on the season and lowered her ERA to an amazing 1.60 ... Kristen Calvetti (Milford, N.H./Milford H.S.) drove in all four runs for Maine on Sunday, including a three-run homer ... she batted .444 for the weekend and posted a .778 slugging percentage ... Terren Hall (Bucksport, Maine/Bucksport H.S.) batted a team-best .500 during the weekend, including driving in a pair of runs ... Kali Burnham (Courtice, Ontario/Trinity College) and Alexis Souhlaris (Derry, N.H./Pinkerton Academy) batted .429 and .400, respectively, on the weekend ... Maine has a mid-week game at Boston University this Wednesday and returns home this weekend to play host to Albany in a three-game set.
UMBC (30-17, 8-6 America East) went 5-1 last week... Sophomore Stephanie Weigman (Elkridge, Md./Archbishop Spalding) picked up two wins in a doubleheader sweep of Bucknell on Tuesday... She struck out 11 and allowed just one unearned run in UMBC’s 9-1 six-inning victory in the first game, then struck out eight in a 6-3 win in the nightcap... Junior shortstop Jessica Vetock (Pasadena, Md./Institute of Notre Dame/CCBC-Catonsville) collected four hits and drove in four runs in the doubleheader... Weigman struck out nine in a complete-game 2-1 loss to Georgetown on Thursday, and she fanned 10 in a 7-6 eight-inning victory in the series opener against Vermont on Saturday... UMBC defeated the Catamounts, 3-2, in the nightcap... Junior right fielder Emily Thompson (Niagara Falls, N.Y./Niagara Falls) went 5-for-7 with a double and a homer in the two games... Junior catcher Amanda Page (Batavia, N.Y./Batavia/Monroe CC) hit a three-run homer in a 4-1 win over Vermont in the series finale... Weigman picked up her 19th win of the season, tying UMBC’s single-season record, and also broke the school mark with her 24th complete game of the year... The sophomore already set the UMBC record for single-season strikeouts, which now stands at 242... She now ranks third all-time with 383 career strikeouts, just 39 shy of the school record... Sophomore second baseman Lauren Brummell (Hanover, Va./Hanover) has hit 17 doubles this season, most-ever by a Retriever sophomore and just two shy of UMBC’s single-season record... The Retrievers play four America East road games this week, with the series finale at Binghamton on Wednesday and a three-game series at Stony Brook this weekend.
Stony Brook (30-9, 11-3 America East) won its 30th game of the season this week going 5-2 (3-1 America East)... It is the third time the Seawolves have won 30 or more games in they are looking to surpass last year’s school record of 33 wins... SBU opened the week off with a single game against Vermont, beating the Catamounts 8-0 in six innings... Sophomore Brijette Martin led the team with a 3-for-3 performance, driving in two runs... Following a non-conference loss to Fairfield, the Seawolves bounce back with a doubleheader sweep of Sacred Heart that saw SBU outscore the Pioneers 18-1... Stony Brook then traveled to Massachusetts to face Boston University, where they took two of three from the Terriers... After an epic 12-inning battle that saw BU win on a bases loaded hit batsman, the Seawolves won the final two games of the series 6-3, 6-1... Junior Vicki Kavitsky went 6-for-11 with two home runs, two doubles, five runs scored and four RBI in the series... Junior Casey Jacobs hurled a two-hit complete game in the series finale which gave Stony Brook a two-game cushion in the race for the top spot in the America East.... The Seawolves travel to Hartford on Wednesday before hosting a weekend series with UMBC.
Vermont (6-31, 3-11 America East) went 0-6 on the week ... The Cats opened the week on Monday by wrapping up a three-game set at Stony Brook, then faced Albany for a pair at home on Wednesday before traveling to UMBC for three this past weekend ... Sophomore Jocelyn Abaray (Acushnet, MA /New Bedford) pitched well in a 2-0 loss in the opener of the midweek doubleheader, as she went the distance and struck out six ... The Cats dropped a pair of one-run games to UMBC on Saturday, including a 7-6 decision in eight innings in the opener ... Senior Jeannine Connolly (West Bridgewater, Mass./West Bridgewater) went 3-for-4 with a RBI in the extra inning contest ... Senior Alison Daggett (Fort Collins, Colo./Fort Collins) knocked in the Cats’ two runs in the second game of the doubleheader, giving Vermont a 2-1 lead ... This week Vermont travels to face Albany for two on Wednesday in its final road games of the regular season, then hosts a doubleheader vs. Dartmouth on Thursday and a three-game series against Boston U over the weekend.