CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- The two hottest softball teams in America East, Albany and Boston University, kept up their winning ways last week and players from each team have earned weekly honors as a result. The Great Danes' Gina Mason (Sacramento, Calif./El Camino) and the Terriers' Megan Volpano (Salinas, Calif./Stevenson School) shared Player of the Week honors while Volpano was also tabbed the Rookie of the Week. Albany's Brittany Schweiger (Orangevale, Calif./Bella Vista) took home Pitcher of the Week accolades for the period ending April 25.
Mason reached base in 9-of-10 plate appearances, scored seven runs and drove in five in just three games last week. The senior first baseman went 4-for-5 at the plate and also walked five times for a .900 on-base percentage. Of her four hits, three came for extra-bases including a pair of home runs and a triple, giving her a 2.400 slugging percentage.
Volpano batted a scorching .769 (10-for-13) with four extra-base hits, four runs scored and eight RBI in four games last week. The freshman third baseman, who also walked once and had a .786 on-base percentage, roped a pair of doubles and a pair of homers last week for a 1.385 slugging percentage.
Schweiger fired a complete-game, one-hit gem in Albany’s 3-0 win over UMBC on Friday. The junior hurler struck out eight and walked none in the shutout effort. Schweiger held the Retrievers, who rank second in America East with a .284 average and have only been shut out five times this season, to a Lauren Brummell single in the fourth.
Albany, which sits in first place in the America East standings with an 11-1 conference record, and Boston U., which is 9-3 in league play, have both clinched bids to the 2011 America East Softball Championship, which takes place May 4-7.
Team Notes
Albany (20-18, 11-1 AE) swept a three-game series from UMBC over the weekend and clinched a berth in the America East Championship for the 10th time in as many seasons in America East ... the Great Danes defeated the Retrievers, 3-0, in the series opener, before shutting UMBC down in two shortened games, posting a 10-2 win in six innings in Friday's nightcap and recording a 9-0 win in five innings on Saturday ... Senior first baseman Gina Mason (Sacramento, Calif./El Camino) batted .800 for the week, recording four hits, including a triple and two home runs, scoring seven runs and driving in five more... She did not strike out once, but drew five walks and stole two bases ... Junior pitcher Brittany Schweiger (Orangevale, Calif./Bella Vista) tossed a complete-game, one-hit shutout of the Retrievers in game one on Friday... Schweiger allowed just one base hit, did not issue a walk and struck out eight opposing batters... The Great Danes hit six home runs in three games over the weekend ... Junior Melissa Herndon (Stevenson Ranch, Calif./West Ranch) hit .500 for the week, including one of the homers, posting a .875 slugging percentage and going 3-for-3 on stolen base attempts... Freshman Brittany MacFawn (Orlando, Fla./Timber Creek) earned two wins in the circle for the Great Danes, tossing a complete-game in the nightcap on Friday, and sharing a shutout with Allie Weiser (Wildwood Crest, N.J./Wildwood Catholic) on Saturday... UAlbany will return to action on the road this week, visiting crosstown-rival Siena on Tuesday for a non-conference doubleheader, before visiting Boston U. for a conference series over the weekend.
Binghamton (20-15, 8-3 AE) won its final three games of the week, including a doubleheader sweep over Maine in conference play on Sunday ... senior catcher Deannie Plemon (Irvine, Calif./Woodbridge) went 4-for-7 (.571) with three home runs and five RBI in a doubleheader sweep against Maine on April 24. In the opener, she homered twice for the second time in her career. Plemon hit .350 for the week (7-for-20) and drove in seven runs. In the Bearcats' last 11 games, Plemon has recorded at least one RBI eight times. She now ranks second on the team with nine home runs and second in the conference with 39 RBI. Plemon is Binghamton's all-time home run leader (32) and has a program-best 118 RBI, 261 total bases and 62 extra-base hits ... sophomore outfielder Jessica Phillips (Syracuse, N.Y./Cicero-North) continues to lead the conference in batting (.495), home runs (13) and RBI (40). In addition, her slugging percentage remains at 1.000 and her on-base percentage is at .606. She continues to rank second in program history with 28 home runs and fourth with 73 RBI ... Binghamton travels to Stony Brook for a three-game conference set Saturday and Sunday and can clinch its first-ever America East Championship bid with one win over the Seawolves.
Boston University (27-12, 9-3 AE) extended its winning streak to eight games with four victories last week and clinched a berth in the league tournament for the 12th straight season ... The Terriers avenged a loss to Harvard with a 5-3 triumph on Thursday ... Boston U. then swept Hartford in three games, winning by an 11-2 margin in game one, 9-2 in game two and 9-0 in five innings in game three ... Freshman Megan Volpano (Salinas, Calif./Stevenson School) was an impressive 10-for-13 with four runs, two doubles, two home runs and eight RBIs ... Redshirt freshman Chelsea Kehr (Florence, N.J./Florence) smacked her third grand slam of the season on Monday afternoon, hitting one out of the park in the third and final game against the Hawks, while senior Christina Valdes ( Madison, Wis./James Madison Memorial) hit a three-run homer one day prior ... Sophomore Erin Schuppert (Atlantic Beach, Fla./D.U. Fletcher) was the pitcher of record in two wins as she threw seven shutout innings, striking out eight batters and allowing just four hits ... Boston U., which remains in second place in the AE standings, will play two midweek contests on the road as it travels to Holy Cross on Tuesday (April 26) at 4 p.m. and UMass on Wednesday (April 27) at 5 p.m. It will then host Albany over the weekend with Senior Day festivities taking place on Sunday (May 1).
Hartford (7-30, 2-10 AE) played six games over the past week and posted a 2-4 record ... Junior center fielder Shannon Simpkins (Millville, N.J./Sacred Heart) paced Hartford, batting .368 (7-for-19) with three runs, two RBIs and three stolen bases ... Nicole Springer (New Britain, Conn./New Britain) and Lauren Kamena (Nesconset, N.Y./Smithtown) each collected four RBIs on the week and batted .357 and .333, respectively ... The Hawks started the week off with a 1-0 win at Quinnipiac on Wednesday ... Junior Siera Sheehan (Binghamton, N.Y./Chenango Valley) went the distance, scattering six hitsand striking out three en route to her first shutout this year ... Melani Maxwell (West Babylon, N.Y./West Babylon) provided all of the run support needed with her solo home run in the third ... The Hawks closed out the week at home where they split a doubleheader with South Dakota on Thursday (8-1, 1-8) before suffering three losses to Boston University (2-11, 2-9, 0-9) ... In the win over the Coyotes, the Hawks broke open a 1-1 deadlock with seven runs on as many hits in the bottom of the sixth, led by Kamena’s two-run triple ... Springer led the Hawks in the Boston U. series with three RBIs ... Hartford hosts a doubleheader with Sacred Heart on Thurs., Apr. 28 (3:00 p.m.) before traveling to Baltimore, Md. for a three-game series at UMBC.
Maine (16-27, 6-8 AE) dropped a doubleheader at Binghamton on
Sunday as weather conditions pushed the series back a day and washed out
Monday's series finale ... Terren Hall (Bucksport, Maine) led the way
for Maine as the senior captain batted .667, going 4-for-6 with two runs
scored and four RBIs. Hall also picked up her eighth home run of the
season, moving her career home runs record to 34 while moving her streak
of reaching base safely to 28 consecutive games. Hall currently sits at
161 RBIs for her career, just 19 short of tying the all-time record of
180 set by Sara Jewett from 1997-00 ... Kali Burnham (Courtice, Ontario)
continues to get things going for Maine as the senior is hitting .500
as a leadoff, going 13-for-26 in that role while Maine's everyday
leadoff hitter Jennifer Eberhardt (Glendale, Ariz.) is batting .427 in
the role ... Hall continues to pace the team in clutch situations as she
has driven in nine of her 35 RBIs with two outs ... Sophomore pitcher
Beth Spoehr (Appleton, Wis.) has continued to stay in charge of lineups
as she has only allowed 28 of the 103 leadoff hitters she has faced to
reach base ... The Black Bears will switch gears this week with three
non-conference games beginning with a showdown at St. Joseph's (Maine)
Wednesday at 5 p.m. before traveling for a doubleheader beginning at 1
p.m. on Saturday, April 30 with Iona.
UMBC (20-21, 5-10 AE) was swept by Albany in a three-game set last weekend by scores of 3-0, 10-2 and 9-0 … Senior second baseman Lauren Brummell (Hanover, Va./Hanover) went 4-for-8 in the series … She is three hits shy of becoming the ninth Retriever ever to collect 200 in her career … Brummell is also tied for second all-time at UMBC with 46 career doubles … Four Retrievers are batting better than .300 this season, led by senior left fielder Julia Culotta’s (Street, Md./North Harford/Tennessee) .389 average … She is tied for ninth all-time at UMBC with 18 career home runs… Senior right-hander Stephanie Weigman (Elkridge, Md./Archbishop Spalding) has struck out 113 batters this season, making her the only Retriever ever to strike out at least 100 batters in four straight seasons… She is UMBC’s all-time strikeouts leader with 749 in her career to go along with a school-record 61 wins … The Retrievers visit La Salle for a non-conference doubleheader on Tuesday, then host America East rival Hartford in a three-game series this weekend.
Stony Brook (15-24, 3-9 AE) posted a 2-3 record in five non-conference games last week ... the Seawolves defeated Big East foe Rutgers on Tuesday, using a six-run seventh inning to erase a four-run deficit in a 7-6 win ... on Thursday, the Seawolves were swept by Iona by scores of 7-0 and 5-1 ... on Sunday, Stony Brook split with Rider, falling 9-6 and winning 7-3...junior Suzanne Karath (Fishkill, N.Y.) led the team with a .467 average (7-for-15) last week, recording three doubles, three RBI and three stolen bases in five games...senior Colleen Matthes (Severn, Md.) picked up the win against Rutgers, despite walking a career-high 17 batters in the game ... Five Stony Brook players recorded multi-hit games against the Scarlet Knights...Stony Brook used seven hits in the seventh inning to score its six runs ... against Rider, the Seawolves dropped the opener, despite scoring four runs in the seventh to cut the score to 9-6 ... junior Lauren Maloney (Las Vegas, Nev.) went 2-for-4 with her second home run of the season...junior Bernadette Tenuto (Audubon, N.J) was also 2-for-4 with an RBI in the game...in game two, freshman Alex Clark (Warsaw, Va.) earned her first collegiate victory with a complete-game, two-strikeout effort against the Broncs ... it was Clark's first career complete-game as well...Maloney again had a strong game with three runs scored in the leadoff spot, while junior Alyssa Hawley (Spokane, Wash.) put together a 3-for-5 performance in the two-hole ... sophomore Taylor Chain (Gloucester, N.J.), hitting cleanup, knocked in three runs and went 1-for-2 in the game ... Stony Brook closes out the home portion of its schedule this week when it hosts Quinnipiac for a doubleheader Wednesday and Binghamton for a three-game series this weekend.