CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - As the end of softball regular season nears and the battle for playoff positioning heats up, three standouts on teams hoping to make a deep championship runs have earned America East weekly accolades. University at Albany's Meagan Butsch (Tomball, Texas/Tomball) produced 16 runs in five games to earn Player of the Week honors, while Stony Brook University's Casey Jacobs (Davie, Fla.) did not allow an earned run in four appearances to claim Pitcher of the Week honors. University of Hartford's Siera Sheehan (Binghamton, N.Y./Chenango Valley) rounded out the winners, hurling five scoreless innings to garner Rookie of the Week recognition.
Butsch, a senior third baseman, batted .600 last week and reached base in 13 of 19 plate appearances scoring eight runs and driving in eight. She also belted four homers and became Albany's single-season (12) and career (27) leader in the category. A first-team all-conference player a year ago, Butsch hit two homers, including a grand slam, in the opener of the doubleheader sweep over Vermont Wednesday and made a game-saving defensive play in the nightcap, a 5-4 Great Dane extra inning triumph. She wrapped up the week with two more homers and in an 11-8 win against Maine, which snapped a two-game losing skid and kept her team alive for the regular-season title.
Jacobs, a junior, did not allow a run in 15 2/3 innings of work over four appearances. She helped Stony Brook clinch a postseason berth and maintain its hold on first place with a complete-game 1-0 shutout over UMBC Sunday. She allowed just four hits while inducing 13 ground ball outs and walking just one.
Sheehan, a freshman who is 5-9 in 16 games this season, hurled a complete-game shutout in Hartford's 8-0 win in game two of Saturday's doubleheader split with Binghamton. Sheehan allowed just three hits, walked none and struck out a career-high seven.
The Seawolves, the only team to clinch a postseason berth thus far, sit one game up on Boston University for first place in the standings and one and a half games up on Albany, which will host SBU in a pivotal series this weekend while the Terriers travel to Binghamton. Hartford (9-7), Maine (10-8) and UMBC (10-8) are separated by half a game for the fourth and final spot in the field. The Hawks and Retrievers will face off in Baltimore this weekend, while Maine will travel to Vermont.
The 2009 America East Championship will take place May 7-9 at the site of the top seed.
Team-By-Team Notebook
Albany (31-12, AE 11-5) went 3-2 overall and 2-2 in league play this past week ... The team swept a doubleheader against Vermont before dropping two of three games against Maine ... Meagan Butsch (Tomball, Texas/Tomball) went yard four times this week and set school records for home runs in a single season (12) and home runs in a career (27) in the nightcap of a doubleheader against Maine ... Kelly Ogden previously held each standard ... Leah McIntosh (Whitby, Ontario/Sinclair) broke Casey Halloran’s Division I program record for career strikeouts in the 11-8 win over Maine, and now has 597 in her career ... Kristine Bill’s (Woodland, Calif./Woodland) grand slam capped a seven-run seventh inning to give the Great Danes an 11-8 win over Maine to close the weekend ... It was her first career grand slam and second home run overall ... UAlbany has hit all three of its grand slam home runs this season in an eight-day span ... Gina Mason (Sacramento, Calif./El Camino) sparked a 14-run outburst on April 19 at Binghamton, and Butsch hit a walk-off grand slam against Vermont on Wednesday, April 22 ... UAlbany starts off the week with two non-conference doubleheaders ... The team travels to crosstown-rival Siena on Tuesday, April 28 before hosting Bryant on Wednesday, April 29 ... Stony Brook visits Albany Field for a three-game series on May 2-3 to close out the regular season.
Binghamton (6-32, 1-17 America East) was 1-3 last week and earned their first America East victory of the season ... On Saturday, Binghamton defeated Hartford 4-1 ... Junior Cyrilla Suker (Voorheesville, N.Y./ UMass Lowell) fired a complete-game three hitter with 15 strikeouts ... Suker also allowed only one run in seven innings of work and struck out the first seven batters of the game ... Sophomore Kelly Schuldt (Lisle, N.Y./Whitney Point) hit a three run home run in the win and classmate Deannie Plemon (Irving, Calif./Woodbridge) hit a solo shot ... The win snapped a season-long 10 game losing streak for BU ... Plemon homered in three of four games last week and posted a 1.091 slugging percentage over four games ... Suker fanned 31 batters in 20 innings of work on the week ... Binghamton lost its other games of the week to UMBC (1-6) and Hartford (0-8, 1-6) ... Binghamton will head to Niagara for a doubleheader on Wednesday for their final non-conference series of the year ... The Bearcats will host Boston University this weekend for its final series of the year ... Seniors Sandy Meadows (Huachuca City, Ariz./Buena) and Michelle Olivieri (Conesus, N.Y./Daytona Beach CC) will be honored on Saturday during a senior day ceremony.
Boston University (34-15, 12-5 America East) went undefeated as it leapt into second place in the America East standings heading into the final week of the regular season ... The Terriers improved to 34-15 overall and 12-5 in conference action ... Senior Nora Militz (Arlington Heights, Ill./Rolling Meadows) led the way offensively, batting .455 with five hits and four RBIs ... She smacked two home runs ? including a three-run blast at Vermont, that helped BU pull away for good for the three-game sweep ... Classmate Shayne Lotito (Acton, Calif./Vasquez) was just as impressive with five stolen bases and a .357 batting average over four games and fellow senior Brooke Hudson (La Porte, Texas/La Porte) recorded her first home run of the season with a grand slam on Sunday afternoon at Vermont ... The junior pitching duo of Cassidi Hardy (Jupiter, Fla./Jupiter) and Megan Currier (Torrance, Calif./Torrance) went undefeated ... Hardy went 3-0, fanning 11 batters and allowing just two earned runs in three appearances, while Currier did not give up a run ... Hardy also broke a program record with her 105th career appearance on Sunday ... BU, which is two games behind league-leader Stony Brook, will host a pair of non-conference games this week against Boston College (April 29) and Harvard (April 30) before closing out the regular season at Binghamton in three-game series this weekend.
Hartford (18-19, 9-7 America East) was rained out in the rubber match with Stony Brook on Wednesday and took two-of-three from Binghamton last weekend in West Hartford ... The Hawks currently stand at fourth place in the America East rankings ... Senior Amanda Sais (Tustin, Ca./Tustin) batted a team-best .571 for the weekend and posted a .857 slugging percentage, notching four hits with three runs scored ... She moved to the top of Hartford’s record books this weekend, becoming the program’s all-time leader in career runs (90) and hits (157) ... Senior Lindsey Anrico (Trumbull, Conn./Trumbull) batted .444 on the weekend, recording four hits while scoring a pair of runs ... The Hawks split Saturday’s doubleheader with the Bearcats, falling 4-1 in the first game before taking game two in five innings by an 8-0 final ... Rookie Siera Sheehan threw her second complete-game shutout of the season in the tail end of Saturday’s doubleheader ... She held the Bearcats to just three hits and fanned a career-high seven batters ... Sais was a perfect 3-for-3, scoring a pair of runs and driving in one ... In Sunday’s 6-1 defeat of Binghamton, junior ace Brittney Stratton (Statten Island, N.Y./Tottenville) kept the Bearcats’ bats silent in the first 7.1 innings, falling two outs short from pitching the second no-hitter of her career ... Binghamton’s Deannie Plemon knocked a solo shot out of the park to end Stratton’s no-no ... Hartford has a mid-week, non-conference doubleheader with in-state rival Central Connecticut on Thursday before traveling to UMBC for the season’s final three-game set.
Maine (30-21, 10-8 America East) took 2-of-3 from Albany this past weekend in Orono ... the Black Bears find themselves tied with UMBC for fifth place in the league standings entering the final weekend of conference play this upcoming week ... Maine won both games on Saturday by scores of 1-0 and 4-3 ... in the first game, Jenna Balent (Conifer, Colo./Conifer H.S.) set down the Albany offense with outstanding consistency ... she allowed just one Great Dane batter to move into scoring position as she picked up the win ... it was Balent's sixth complete-game shutout win in her last eight decisions ... Balent also got the win in game two as she again kept Albany's offense at bay most of the contest ... Kali Burnham (Courtice, Ontario/Trinity College) was the catalyst for Maine's offense as she drove in three runs, including driving in the winning run on her walk-off single in the seventh inning of the second game, which propelled Maine to the Saturday sweep of Albany ...
Burnham also drove in a pair of runs in Sunday's tough 11-8 setback to the Great Danes ... for the weekend, Burnham batted a team-best .545 and collected a team-high five RBIs ... Terren Hall (Bucksport, Maine/Bucksport H.S.) and Alexis Souhlaris (Derry, N.H./Pinkerton Academy) were the other two Black Bears to bat over .300 for the weekend at .333 and .300, respectively ... Balent started all three games this past weekend and ended up going 2-0 with a 2.94 ERA and 13 strikeouts to only four walks ... Maine returns to action this weekend when it closes out the regular season by facing Vermont in Burlington.
UMBC (32-19, 10-8 America East) went 2-2 in four America East road games last week... Sophomore hurler Stephanie Weigman (Elkridge, Md./Archbishop Spalding) became the first Retriever ever to win 20 games in a season in UMBC’s 6-1 victory at Binghamton on Wednesday... Junior pitcher/first baseman Amanda Fefel (Baltimore, Md./Catonsville) became the fourth Retriever ever to hit 30 home runs in her career and the 12th to hit 10 in a season when she launched a two-run shot in the first inning... Junior right fielder Emily Thompson (Niagara Falls, N.Y./Niagara Falls) launched her fifth home run of the season, a three-run shot, during a five-run third inning in a 5-2 victory in the first game against Stony Brook... She is batting .473 (9-for-19) during her current six-game hitting streak... UMBC dropped the final two games of the series, 3-1 and 1-0... Weigman struck out the 400th batter of her career during the second game, becoming the second Retriever ever to reach that milestone... She now has a school-record 265 on the season and 406 in her career, just 16 shy of the all-time school mark... Weigman also broke the school record for complete games in a season and now has 27 on the year... Second baseman Lauren Brummell (Hanover, Va./Hanover) has belted 18 doubles on the season, one shy of the school mark... The Retrievers close out the regular season with a five-game home stand... They host non-conference foe Delaware on Wednesday before closing out their schedule with a three-game weekend series against America East rival Hartford.
Stony Brook (32-11, 13-4 America East) locked up a spot in the 2009 America East Championship by taking two of three from UMBC this weekend... Following a non-conference loss to Hofstra, the Seawolves bounced back to finish the week with a 2-2 overall record... SBU dropped the front end of the doubleheader on Saturday as UMBC used a five-run third inning to pull away with a 5-2 win... The Seawolves rebounded in game two for a 3-1 win... Senior Molly Kestranek was 3-for-3 in the second game while classmates Marissa Fleury and Kelly Oberto both drove in runs... Junior Alyssa Struzenberg overcame seven walks to win her 18th game of the year, while junior Casey Jacobs picked up her fourth save of the season... Jacobs did not allow a single run against the Retrievers in 13.2 innings of work, including a complete-game shutout on Sunday... While the Seawolves offense struggled, the defense was solid as the outfield picked up four assists and the infield turned two doubleplays.
Vermont (7-36, 3-15 America East) went 1-5 last week, which included a 2-1 victory over Dartmouth on Thursday at home ... The Catamounts opened the week with a doubleheader at Albany on Wednesday and led 4-1 in the second game, before eventually falling, 5-4 in eight innings ... Seniors Alison Daggett (Fort Collins, Colo./Fort Collins) and Jeanine Connolly (West Bridgewater, Mass./West Bridgewater) each homered against the Great Danes, as they share the team lead with three apiece this season ... Daggett now has nine for her career, which is fourth all-time at Vermont ... The Cats earned their only win of the week on Thursday, as Connolly drove in junior Rachel Boone (Brentwood, Calif./Liberty) in the bottom of the eighth to earn the come from behind win ... Boone led the offense with a 3-for-4 effort at the plate ... Vermont got a pair of great pitching performances on Saturday against Boston U from Daggett and sophomore Jocelyn Abaray (Acushnet, Mass./New Bedford), but came up short, falling 2-0 and 1-0 ... On Sunday sophomore Laura Stagliano (Voorhees, N.J./Eastern Regional) hit her first home run of the season, a solo shot in the sixth inning against Boston U ... Vermont wraps up the season this weekend with a three-game series at home against Maine ... The two teams will play a doubleheader on Saturday (12 p.m.) and a single game on Sunday ... Sunday will mark the final home game for seniors Daggett and Connolly.