CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Following its first action of the 2010 season, University of Hartford has earned a pair of America East softball awards while UMBC, which sits in first place at 10-2, took home the other. The Hawks' Brittney Stratton (Staten Island, N.Y./Tottenville) was tabbed Pitcher of the Week, while freshman Nicole Springer (New Britain, Conn./Kingswood Oxford) garnered Rookie of the Week accolades. The Retrievers' Lauren Brummell (Hanover, Va./Hanover) was named Player of the Week for the second time this season. The awards for the week ending March 14 were announced Monday afternoon.
Stratton, a senior right-hander, hurled went 2-0 with a pair of complete-game effort and did not allowed an earned run in 14 innings of work last week. In Hartford's season-opener against Eastern Kentucky on Friday, she scattered seven hits and allowed two runs, none of them earned, while striking out nine and walking just won. Stratton was even better in a 2-0 win over North Carolina A&T Sunday, firing a four-hit shutout and fanning seven.
Springer, a freshman making her collegiate debut, went 4-for-9 with extra base hits and played a big role in both wins. With her team trailing 2-0 against Eastern Kentucky, Springer sparked a comeback with a two-run home run in the third inning of a game Hartford ended up winning, 5-2. She then accounted for the only scoring in the win over NC A&T with another tw0-run blast in the sixth inning. For the week, she batted .444 and drove in four runs.
Brummell, a junior second baseman, batted .444 with three homers, four RBI and six runs scored last week. Brummell, who was also named Player of the Week, on Feb. 20, collected three hits, including what proved to be the game-winning home run in a 6-5 10 inning win over Delaware Tuesday. She ranks among league leaders with a .425 average, four homers and 15 runs scored this season.
Team Notebook
Albany (2-4) split its games at the Cherry Blossom Classic hosted by George Mason on March 14 … The Great Danes dropped a 9-1 decision to undefeated Cornell, the reigning Ivy League champion, before regrouping to post an 8-1 victory over Mount Saint Mary’s, which has the best winning percentage (.611) in Northeast Conference … The Great Danes were scheduled to play five games over three days in the tournament, but rain canceled the first two days of action … UAlbany’s seven stolen bases versus Mount St. Mary’s, which suffered its most lopsided loss of the season, were the most since registering eight in a 7-5 nine-inning win over St. Peter’s on March 8, 2002 … Junior Andrianna Walraven (Thompson Ridge, N.Y./Pine Bush), junior Jessica Bergin (New Windsor, N.Y./Newburgh Free Academy) and sophomore Diane MacDowell (Middletown, N.Y./Valley Central) each had two in the game … Walraven, who entered the season with a .215 career batting average and a .301 on-base percentage, currently leads the squad with a .529 batting average and a .619 on-base percentage as the team’s leadoff hitter … She also has a team-high seven steals in as many attempts … Kat Smith (Pasadena, Texas/Pasadena Memorial) went 4-for-6 with a pair of doubles to pace the offense in the two games … Senior Leah McIntosh (Whitby, Ontario/Sinclair), who was named the program’s fourth America East pitcher of the year in the past seven seasons in 2009, made her season debut against the Mountaineers … She pitched four scoreless innings and fanned six batters while issuing only one walk to earn the victory … Freshman Allie Weiser (Wildwood Crest, N.J./Wildwood Catholic) allowed one run in four innings of relief, ending the weekend with a 1.56 earned run average and 11 strikeouts in 18 innings of work … The Great Danes, who were chosen to finish first in the America East Conference preseason poll, will head back to Virginia next weekend and are scheduled to play six games in three days … After facing Longwood in a doubleheader on March 19, the team will compete in the Radford Highlander Classic against Kent State, Siena and the host school on March 20-21.
Binghamton (4-5) had four games rained out at the Norfolk State Spartan Clash this past weekend. The Bearcats are not scheduled to play again until March 25 at Marist.
Boston University (7-9) moved to 7-9 on the young season and completed its stay in Florida last week as it went 3-3, with wins coming against Temple, 4-1, Toledo, 13-7, and Indiana 6-2.Junior Christina Valdes led the way on the offensive front, batting .471 with eight hits, one double and four RBIs, while freshman Taylor Cowan was also productive with a .333 batting average in six games with four RBIs, while senior Rachel Hebert drove in the most runs, plating six runners off of six hits, including one double, one triple and one home run. She was also 2-for-2 in stolen bases. On the mound, Hardy led the way with a 0.91 ERA in three appearances. She struck out 20 batters - including a season-high 11 vs. Temple. The Terriers will travel to Hempstead, N.Y. this week to take on UConn and host Hofstra on March 20 and 21.
Hartford (2-1 overall) opened its 2010 campaign at the Winthrop/adidas Invitational … The Hawks went 2-1 at the Invitational scoring wins against Eastern Kentucky and North Carolina A&T … A pair of homers launched by freshmen Nicole Springer (New Britain, Conn./Kingswood Oxford) and Kate Wacyk (Sellersville, Pa./Pennridge) propelled the Hawks to a 5-2 opening day victory against Eastern Kentucky on Friday… Facing a 2-0 deficit, Springer’s bomb over the left center fence knotted the score at 2-2 while Wacyk’s fourth inning, lead-off home run completed the Hartford comeback … Brittney Stratton (Staten Island, N.Y./Tottenville) opened her senior campaign with nine strikeouts … Game two of the Invitational was cancelled due to inclement weather … The final game of the Invitational on Sunday was also rained out … The Hawks split on day two, dropping a 2-0 decision to South Carolina Upstate before scoring a 2-0 win against North Carolina A&T … Siera Sheehan (Binghamton, N.Y./Chenango Valley) threw a solid game allowing a pair of runs on seven hits while fanning one batter, however Hartford only managed a pair of hits off Spartans’ hurler Morgan Childers … A two-run shot to dead centerfield by Springer in the top of the sixth coupled with Stratton’s seventh career shutout propelled the Hawks to a 2-0 win over North Carolina A&T … Stratton finished with seven strikeouts en route to her 48th career win, a program best … Rookie Springer finished 3-for-9 on the weekend with a double and a pair of homers while scoring two runs and driving in four … Hartford is slated to play eight games at the Rebel Spring Games in Kissimmee, Fla.
Maine (10-17) went 2-4 in the final week of their 14-day Florida trip. Maine opened the week by snapping a seven game UCF win streak. The Black Bears defeated the Golden Knights 6-4 with a five-run fifth inning. The Black Bears held a 3-0 lead over South Florida in the first game of a doubleheader but were unable to put the Bulls away. Maine also dropped close games to Pitt and Saint Joe’s. Alexis Souhlaris is approaching a number of career numbers for the Black Bears. She is eight runs and seven home runs shy of the most in Black Bear history. Souhlaris became Maine’s all-time hits leader over the weekend and also is the career leader in steals.
UMBC (10-2) went 3-1 last week, sweeping a doubleheader at Delaware on Tuesday before splitting a pair of games against George Washington on Thursday… The weekend’s UMBC Dawg Pound Tournament was cancelled due to heavy rain in the Baltimore area… The Retrievers defeated the Blue Hens, 6-5, in 10 innings in the first game… Junior second baseman Lauren Brummell (Hanover, Va./Hanover) went 3-for-6 with the game-winning home run… UMBC used a four-run third inning to take control of the nightcap and won, 4-2, in a darkness-shortened five-inning contest… Brummell sparked a two-out rally in the third with a double… Freshman Heather Brown (Pasadena, Md./Northeast) was perfect through four innings and earned the first complete-game victory of her career… The win was the 500th in the career of head coach Joe French… UMBC scored five runs before recording an out in the first game against the Colonials, with the first eight batters reaching base… Junior Stephanie Weigman (Elkridge, Md./Archbishop Spalding) retired 10 of the first 11 batters she faced… She struck out 13 in the complete-game victory in UMBC’s 8-3 decision… Brummell went 3-for-4 with a two-run homer in the game… She then led off the nightcap with a solo shot… Brown allowed two runs in the first but settled down and did not allow another hit until the seventh… She suffered a tough-luck loss after allowing an unearned run in the ninth… UMBC is batting .272 as a team, led by Brummell at .425… Eight of her team-best 17 hits have gone for extra bases… Weigman ranks third all-time with 41 career victories… She is also UMBC’s career strikeout leader with 481… The Retrievers host Howard in a doubleheader on Wednesday before this weekend’s UMBC Spring Classic, when they will take on Saint Joseph’s, Niagara, Delaware and Mount St. Mary’s.
Stony Brook (5-7) received a pair of well pitched games from senior Alyssa Struzenberg as the Seawolves went 2-1 during the Under Armour Showcase in Clearwater, Fla… Struzenberg allowed just two earned runs while recording 11 strikeouts in a complete game victory over Florida Gulf Coast… seniors Jade Clare and Casey Jacobs both had two hits in that game and Clare drove in a pair of runs… in its second game on Saturday, SBU was shutout, 8-0, by Ball State… senior Vicki Kavitsky (Cherry Hill, N.J.) went 3-for-3 with a double against Ball State… freshman Taylor Chain’s first career RBI was a memorable one as she drove in the winning run in Stony Brook’s 1-0 victory over Kennesaw State… Struzenberg recorded ten strikeouts in her complete game shutout… the Seawolves will host their annual Stony Brook Invitational this weekend, facing Quinnipiac, Holy Cross, Fairfield and Yale.