CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- America East softball standouts from UMBC, Stony Brook and Boston University each took home softball weekly awards after giving their respective teams clutch performances. The Retriever's Amanda Fefel (Baltimore, Md./Catonsville) earned Player of the Week honors, while the Seawolves' Alyssa Struzenberg (Cooper City, Fla./Cooper City) was named Pitcher of the Week and the Terriers' Whitney Tuthill took home Rookie of the Week accolades. The winners for the week ending April 25 were announced Monday afternoon.
Fefel, a senior third baseman/pitcher, batted .538 (7-for-13) and had multiple hits and all three games last week, including a pair of doubles and home runs. The three-time all-conference honoree, also scored four runs,drove in three and tied the program's all-time record with her 40th career homer. She also recorded a 1.97 earned run average with eight strikeouts in 10.2 innings on the mound.
Struzenberg, a senior pitcher, hurled 10 scoreless innings and went 1-0 in two appearances last week. The 2008 America East Pitcher of the Year and two-time first-team all-league honoree, fired a complete-game, four-hit shutout in a 1-0 win over preseason conference favorite Albany Saturday. She struck out seven in that contest and is 16-6 with a 1.64 ERA and 187 strikeouts this season.
Tuthill, a freshman pitcher, went 2-1 with a 1.25 ERA in four outings last week. She allowed just 14 hits and a pair of walks in 22.1 innings of work. Tuthill also struck out 12 and had a pair of homers and three RBI in 16 at-bats.
Team Notes
Albany (16-20, AE 7-7) ended the week in fourth place in the America East Conference standings … The Great Danes split a non-conference doubleheader at Dartmouth on April 21… The team won the opener, 9-2, before dropping the nightcap by a 6-3 score … The team also split an America East Conference twinbill at Stony Brook on April 24 … UAlbany dropped a pitcher’s duel in the first game, 1-0, before recovering to post a 9-1 victory in the second … The rubber game scheduled for April 25 was cancelled due to rain … UAlbany, which has come from behind in five of its seven America East wins this season, was led by pitcher Marissa Powell (Midlothian, Texas/Midlothian) … Powell picked up the victory in the circle against Dartmouth before suffering a tough loss in the team’s one-run setback against Stony Brook … She finished the week with a 1.27 earned run average in addition to striking out 15 batters in 11 innings pitched … Leah McIntosh (Whitby, Ontario/Sinclair) went the distance and was credited with the victory against Stony Brook by fanning five hitters and not allowing an earned run … She is 6-5 overall with a team-best 2.72 ERA this year … Kat Smith (Pasadena, Texas/Pasadena Memorial) drove in a team-leading five runs last week, while Nicole Kothe (Middletown, N.Y./Minisink Valley) hit her first career grand slam in the Dartmouth victory to pace the offense … Gina Mason (Sacramento, Calif./El Camino) and Jessica Bergin (New Windsor, N.Y./Newburgh Free Academy), who each batted over .300 in the four games, continue to be the team’s top sluggers this season … Mason leads the squad in batting average (.385), home runs (8), RBIs (28), hits (37), runs scored (22), slugging percentage (.698) and on-base percentage (.479) … Bergin ranks first on the team with 15 stolen bases … She is second on the squad behind Mason in several offensive categories, including batting average (.319), hits (29), runs scored (18) and slugging percentage (.571) … Over half of her hits, including a team-high 10 doubles, have been for extra bases …Michelle Connors (Clifton Park, N.Y./Shenendehowa) has 33 career doubles and ranks second on the all-time list ... She needs six more to eclipse the record of 38, which is currently held by Kelly Ogden … The Great Danes, who will play the rest of their games this season on the road, will travel to Siena and Seton Hall for non-conference doubleheaders this week … UAlbany visits the Saints on April 27 at 3 p.m. before playing the Pirates on April 29 at 2:30 p.m.
Binghamton (21-15, AE 6-9) was 2-3 last week, sweeping Colgate midweek 8-5, 8-1 before losing three at Boston University … Two of the three losses at Boston came in the final at-bat in the bottom of the seventh inning … BU smashed six homers in the doubleheader sweep of Colgate and the team holds the single season school record (34) … Binghamton surpasses the 20-win mark for the tenth time in school history and just the second at the Division I level … Junior catcher Deannie Plemon (Irvine, Calif./Woodbridge) lead the team by batting .571 (8-for-14) with six RBI, two home runs and two doubles on the week … Plemon also extended her school-record 15 game hitting streak … Plemon batted 4-for-4 in the opening win against Colgate and currently has single-season records with 12 home runs and 39 RBI … Freshman Jessica Phillips (Syracuse, N.Y./Cicero-North Syracuse) hit two home runs in one-game against Colgate and increased her season total to 10 homers … Sophomore Kristen Emerling (Germantown, Tenn./Houston) became the single-season record holder for most wins in a season (13) and had a 1.58 ERA on the week … Binghamton is 8-2 at home this season and will finish the year with five home games this week and four home games the following week …The Bearcats will host a doubleheader on Wednesday against St. Bonaventure before playing their final three America East games of the season against Stony Brook at home Saturday-Sunday.
Boston University (26-18, AE 10-2) improved to 26-18 overall and took over sole possession of first place in the America East standings with a three-game sweep of Binghamton over the weekend … Junior Christina Valdes (Madison, Wis./James Memorial) was the team’s leading batter as she went 7-for-16 with one home run and two RBIs … Additionally, she scored the game’s winning run on Sunday afternoon vs. the Bearcats … Freshman Whitney Tuthill (Middletown, Conn./Suffield Academy) was the team’s top pitcher with a 2-1 record in four appearances … Junior April Setterlund (Torrance, Calif./South Torrance) continued her mission to break every single-season record as she added to her list, records in runs (52) and doubles (16), while she is two home runs away from tying Chiya Louie’s (’07) mark of 14 homers in a season. BU will host Providence in a doubleheader on Wednesday before making the short trip to Harvard on Thursday. Over the weekend, the Terriers will travel north to take on the Maine Black Bears in a three-game series.
Hartford (15-16, AE 2-10) snapped an eight-game losing skid with a pair of non-conference wins at in-state rival Sacred Heart on Tuesday … The Hawks took game one by a 10-6 final and defeated the Pioneers, 5-2, in the nightcap … Seven Hawks got into the box score under the hit column in game one with four players notching multi-hit games … The Hawks swiped seven bases in the contest … Second baseman Amanda Dilworth (Jackson, N.J./Jackson Memorial) went 2-for-3, drove in a pair of runs and scored three times while Kate Wacyk (Sellersville, Pa./Pennridge) knocked in three runs on a 2-for-3 performance … Nicole Springer (New Britain, Conn./Kingswood Oxford) went the distance inside the circle in game one and picked up the win … The rookie allowed six runs – five earned – on 10 hits and fanned three batters … At the plate, Springer notched a two-run double and scored once … The Hawks came back from an early 2-0 deficit and scored the 5-2 game two win … Springer’s second double of the afternoon plated a pair of Hawks including the go-ahead run in the third … Siera Sheehan (Binghamton, N.Y./Chenango Valley) allowed just two earned runs in game two en route to her sixth win this season inside the circle … Sunday’s doubleheader at Fairfield was cancelled due to rain … Hartford returns to the Hartford Softball Stadium on Wednesday, April 28 with a twinbill against Central Connecticut State … The Hawks wrap-up the week with a weekend series at home against conference-foe UMBC …Hartford will honor its four seniors in a ceremony prior to the start of Saturday’s doubleheader.
Maine (20-22, AE 9-3) took their fourth series win in America East play with a two games to one win over UMBC… Maine won both of their games in walk-off style and had to comeback from a 6-0 deficit on Sunday… The Black Bears will take on Boston U. this weekend in a showdown for first place… Kristen Calvetti led the Black Bears on the weekend with a .556 batting average… Terren Hall hit .400 with 5 RBIs and launched her 10th home run of the season… Alexis Souhlaris scored both winning runs for Maine, hitting a homer in game one and scoring on a Hall single in game three… Cayleigh Montano made her sixth appearance of the season in relief on Sunday and got her first win of the season… She pitched 7.1 innings and held UMBC scoreless in the final four innings… Montano struck out 11 batters in her longest appearance of the season… Maine split Saturday’s doubleheader and used a walk-off homer by Souhlaris to win game one… The Black Bears came back being down 2-0 to win 3-2 in game one… Calvetti drove in two runs in the first game and Souhlaris hit a walk-off homer in the seventh inning… UMaine scored three of their four runs on Saturday with two-outs… Maine came back twice in game three to win 7-6 on a walk-off single… The Black Bears scored six runs in the fourth inning tie the game at 6-6… Hall started the rally with a three-run home run… UMBC took a 7-6 lead with a single run in the fifth inning, but Maine came back to tie it at 7-7 with a fielder’s choice in the seventh inning… Hall capped off the comeback with a walk-off single in the ninth inning. Souhlaris led off the inning with a walk and stole second base before Hall ended the game with the walk-off hit.
UMBC (22-21, AE 3-9) played just three games last week, going 1-2 at America East rival Maine over the weekend… The Retrievers scored in the first inning in all three games, and both losses occurred in Maine’s final at-bat… UMBC dropped the series opener, 3-2… Sophomore left fielder Kaela Mason (Bel Air, Md./Harford Tech) was responsible for both of UMBC’s runs, driving in one in the first with a triple and another in the third with an RBI groundout… The Retrievers won the nightcap, 4-1… Mason hit a three-run homer in the first inning… Junior Stephanie Weigman (Elkridge, Md./Archbishop Spalding) struck out seven in the complete game victory… Senior third baseman Amanda Fefel (Baltimore, Md./Catonsville) and senior right fielder Emily Thompson (Niagara Falls, N.Y./Niagara Falls) each went 3-for-4 in the game… The Retrievers dropped the rubber match, 8-7, in nine innings… UMBC held a 6-0 lead after three and a half innings and took a 7-6 advantage into the seventh but could not hold on… Fefel smashed the 40th home run of her career in the first inning, tying UMBC’s all-time record… Junior center fielder Julia Culotta (Street, Md./North Harford/Tennessee) went 3-for-4 with a pair of RBI doubles and also scored twice… Junior second baseman Lauren Brummell (Hanover, Va./Hanover) and junior designated player Lauren O’Malley (Pasadena, Md./Archbishop Spalding) also had three hits, while Brummell drove in two… Fefel had three RBI… The Retrievers out-hit the Black Bears, 29-21, in the series, led by Fefel (7-for-13)… Fefel and Thompson each have seven extra-base hits in 12 games against league foes this season… UMBC travels to America East rival Hartford for a three-game series next weekend.
Stony Brook (24-14-1, AE 7-4) split its shortened conference series with Albany this weekend… the two teams were rained out on Sunday… Senior Kendall Blumenthal was responsible for the only run in the Seawolves’ 1-0 win over the Great Danes with a solo homer in the second inning… Senior Alyssa Struzenberg picked up the victory with a complete game shutout… she recorded seven strikeouts while allowing just four hits… Stony Brook out-hit Albany 10-9 in game two, but Albany hit a pair of home runs and scored three unearned runs on the way to a 9-1 win… Senior Vicki Kavitsky recorded her 200th hit in the game, becoming just the fifth player all-time to reach that milestone… SBU dropped its non-conference contest with Long Island University, 3-0… Struzenberg and junior Colleen Matthes combined for eight strikeouts in six innings.