CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- After leading Albany to five wins last week, which solidified the Great Danes' standing in first place of the league standings, a pair of Albany standouts have earned America East softball weekly awards while a Stony Brook rookie rounded out the selections. The Great Danes' Adrianna Walraven (Thompson Ridge, N.Y./Pine Bush) and Brittany MacFawn (Orlando, Fla./Timber Creek) earned Player and Pitcher of the Week honors, respectively, while the Seawolves' Elise Fortier (Coventry, R.I./Coventry) garnered Rookie of the Week recognition. The awards for the period ending April 18 were announced Tuesday afternoon.
Walraven hit a blistering .667 (12-for-18) with eight runs scored and six driven in to lead Albany to five wins in as many games last week. The senior shortstop, who added two walks a pair of doubles and three stolen bases, had at least two hits in each game last week and three in wins over Cornell and Maine.
MacFawn picked up her third Pitcher of the Week honor in the last four weeks after earning two wins and a save while compiling a 1.94 earned run average last week. The freshman hurler saw action in all five games, seeing 18 innings of action and allowing just five earned runs on 12 hits while walking four and fanning 12.
Fortier batted .500 (6-for-12) in four games last week to earn her third Rookie of the Week honor of the season. The freshman third baseman, who had a home run, two runs scored and two RBI last week, went 5-for-10 in the weekend series against Hartford, including a 3-for-3 performance with her third career homer in the series finale Sunday.
Team Notes
Albany (17-18, 8-1 AE) went 5-0 on the week, defeating Cornell in both ends of a non-conference mid-week doubleheader, before sweeping Maine in three games in America East action over the weekend ... Andrianna Walraven (Thompson Ridge, N.Y./Pine Bush) led the Great Danes with a .667 average, recording a team-high 12 hits, including two doubles, scoring eight runs and driving in six more, while also stealing three bases ... Freshman hurler Brittany MacFawn (Orlando, Fla./Timber Creek) went 2-0 on the week with a save, making appearances in four of the five games for the Great Danes ... MacFawn earned a win in the nightcap against Cornell, and recorded a win and a save versus Maine ... She struck out 12 opposing batters on the week ... Katie Wambold (Hatboro, Pa./Hatboro-Horsham) hit .444 for the week, recording eight hits, including a double and a home run, tallying a team-high eight RBI ... The Great Danes will take on Dartmouth in a non-conference doubleheader on Wednesday, before hosting UMBC in a three-game America East Conference series over the weekend.
Binghamton (17-12, 6-3 AE) is off to its best start in conference play since joining the America East Conference in 2002 ... senior catcher Deannie Plemon (Irvine, Calif./Woodbridge) went 5-for-13 (.385) with three home runs and 10 RBI in leading Binghamton to a 4-1 week. In the Bearcats' 2-1 weekend at UMBC, Plemon went 4-for-9 (.444) with two home runs and five RBI. She also scored four runs during the three-game series. Against Colgate on April 14, Plemon belted her first career grand slam. For the season, she has six home runs, 10 doubles and 32 RBI. For her career, Plemon ranks first all-time in program history with 29 home runs and 111 RBI ... sophomore outfielder Jessica Phillips continues to lead the America East in batting (.506), home runs (12), RBI (38), on-base percentage (.613) and slugging percentage (1.036). She homered twice this past week and went 5-for-8 (.625) in the the series at UMBC ... senior first baseman Stephanie DeLuca (Yonkers, N.Y./Ursuline) has homered three times in the past six games. She has six home runs for the year and is batting a career-high .321. Against UMBC, she went 4-for-10 (.400).
Boston University (23-12) won a trio of non-conference games last week and has won four straight overall ... Boston U. began the week with a thrilling 6-5 win over Bryant, highlighted by a game-winning three-run homer from junior Melanie Delgado (Torrance, Calif./Bishop Montgomery) ... In that contest, senior April Setterlund (Torrance, Calif./South Torrance) broke the career RBI record as she drove in three runs to bring her four-year total to 126 ... On Friday, the Terriers took two from Rhode Island with a 9-2 victory and a 7-4 win in eight innings ... Redshirt-freshman Chelsea Kehr (Florence, N.J./Florence) was the offensive spark in the first game driving in five runs on three hits, including two home runs to tie a single-game school record ... Classmate Jayme Mask (Grafton, Mass./Grafton Memorial) was also an offensive threat with six hits through two games. She tied a single-game record with three stolen bases ... In game two, senior catcher Caitlin Rentler (Santa Rosa Valley, Calif./La Reina) hit a clutch two-run double in the eighth to help the Terriers sweep the series ... Boston U. will return to BU Softball Field on Thursday when it welcomes Harvard at 4 p.m.
Hartford (5-26, 2-7 AE) went 2-3 on the week, first dropping a doubleheader to Marist on Thursday before taking two of three at home against Stony Brook over the weekend ... Against Marist, the Hawks were tied heading into the bottom of the seventh in each game, however the Red Foxes escaped with walk-off victories in both games by final scores of 6-5 and 3-2 ... Sophomore Melani Maxwell (West Babylon, N.Y./West Babylon) combined for four RBI on the afternoon including the game-tying, two run homer in the nightcap ... On Saturday, Hartford split with Stony Brook taking a 5-3 decision in the opening game before falling, 2-1, in the nightcap ... With the victory, the Hawks snapped a 15-game skid and scored their first conference and home wins of the season ... Jordan Haines' (King of Prussia, Pa./Upper Merion Area) smacked a two-run homer in the bottom of the second of the second game and got the momentum going for Hartford ... The sophomore homered again in the bottom of the first of Sunday's 4-3 wiv to give the Hawks an early 2-0 advantage ... Rookie hurler Kaitlyn Meade (Setauket, N.Y./Ward Melville) earned both wins inside of the circle ...Hartford faces in-state rival Quinnipiac on Wed., Apr. 20 for a single game (4:30 p.m.) before enjoying a five-game homestand ... the Hawks welcome South Dakota to West Hartford on Thurs., Apr. 20 for a doubleheader (3 p.m.) before facing Boston University for a three-game weekend series.
Maine (16-25, 6-6 AE) dropped all three games to Albany this past weekend to close out a seven-game homestand dating back to the series with Stony Brook on April 9 ... Meghan McLain (Orrington, Maine) paced Maine's offense as she batted .444 with two runs scored and an RBI ... the Black Bears rallied back from a 7-2 deficit in game two on Saturday, tying things up with a pair of runs in the bottom of the seventh thanks to back-to-back RBI hits by Hilary Kane (Concord, N.H.) and Jenny MacDowell (Littleton, Mass.). However, Albany would rally for five in the extra frame to take the victory ... Shortstop Jennifer Eberhardt (Glendale, Ariz.) blasted her fourth home run of the season in game one on Saturday, placing her second on the team in home runs to Terren Hall (Bucksport, Maine) ... Hall singled in game one, had a pair of doubles in game two, and drew a walk in the series finale to extended her streak of reaching base safely to 26 games dating back to 26 games ... Hall's seven home runs ranks her third amongst league leaders while Kali Burnham (Courtice, Ontario) and Eberhardt's 41 hits ranks them tied for second in the league in that category ... Eberhardt has picked up some clutch hits for the Black Bears this season as she is batting .464 with runners in scoring position while Burnham gets things going for Maine as she is hitting .500 as a leadoff ... The Black Bears continue America East play this weekend with a three game set at Binghamton beginning with a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
UMBC (20-18, 5-7 AE) lost four of five last week … The Retrievers dropped a pair of one-run games at in-state rival Mount St. Mary’s on Thursday, falling 5-4 in the first game and 6-5 in eight innings in the nightcap … Sophomore right fielder Ashley Scroggin (Stafford, Va./North Stafford) belted her team-best 10th home run in game one … She is one of just 14 Retrievers ever to hit 10 home runs in a season … UMBC dropped two of three at home to America East rival Binghamton this weekend … Senior second baseman Lauren Brummell (Hanover, Va./Hanover) went 5-for-9 and scored three runs on the series … The teams split Sunday’s doubleheader, as the Retrievers won the first game, 7-5, then lost the second, 8-0, in six innings … Junior catcher Angela Yannone (Pasadena, Md./Chesapeake) went 2-for-4 with a homer and four RBI in game one … UMBC dropped the rubber match with the Bearcats, 10-1, in six innings … Five Retrievers are batting better than .300 this season, led by senior left fielder Julia Culotta’s (Street, Md./North Harford/Tennessee) .396 average… She is tied for ninth all-time at UMBC with 18 career home runs, while Brummell ranks third with 45 doubles … She is also just seven hits shy of becoming the ninth Retriever ever to collect 200 in her career … Senior right hander Stephanie Weigman (Elkridge, Md./Archbishop Spalding) has struck out 107 batters this season, making her the only Retriever ever to strike out at least 100 batters in four straight seasons … UMBC visits America East rival Albany for a three-game weekend series in its only action this week.
Stony Brook (13-21, 3-9 AE) went 1-4 last week ... the team played a single game at Long Island University on Thursday and fell by a 5-1 score ... freshman Nicole Schieferstein (Seaford, N.Y.) went 2-for-3 and knocked in her first career run ... on Saturday, the team traveled to Hartford for a doubleheader and earned a split with a 2-1 win and a 5-3 loss ... junior Lauren Maloney (Las Vegas, Nev.) went 2-for-2 in the opener with two walks and a run ... junior Suzie Karath (Fishkill, N.Y.) went 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run ... in the opener, sophomore Taylor Chain (Gloucester, N.J.) pitched a complete-game to earn the victory, striking out seven in the process ... Stony Brook hit three triples in the game (Maloney, Karath, Bernadette Tenuto) and stole three bases (Jess Combs, Gina Bianculli, Elise Fortier) ... Stony Brook fell in the final game of the weekend, 4-3, despite a stellar pitching performance from senior Colleen Matthes (Severn, Md.) ... Matthes came on in relief of Chain in the first inning and set down 16 consecutive batters to end the game, but Stony Brook could not climb out of an early four-run hole ... Fortier (Coventry, R.I.) had a tremendous week at the plate, hitting .500 (6-for-12) in four games last week ... Fortier smacked her third career home run on Sunday at Hartford and knocked in two RBI in a 3-for-3 effort on the day ... on Thursday at LIU, Fortier went 1-for-2 with a walk and scored Stony Brook's lone run in a 5-1 defeat ... in Saturday's second game against Hartford, Fortier went 2-for-3 at the dish and stole her first career base ... Stony Brook is scheduled to play six non-conference games this week, starting on Tuesday with a trip to Rutgers for a doubleheader at 3 p.m...Stony Brook will then make up its home doubleheader against Iona on Thursday at 12 p.m., which was previously rained out on March 31...the Seawolves will wrap up the week with a doubleheader at Rider on Sunday at 1 p.m.