CAMBRIDGE, Mass.
-- Four players who played key roles in their team's performance last week have earned America East softball weekly honors. Boston University's April Setterlund (Torrance, Calif./South Torrance) picked up Player of the Week honors, UMBC's Stephanie Weigman (Elkridge, Md./Archbishop Spalding) and Colleen Matthes (Severn, Md./Institute of Notre Dame) shared Pitcher of the Week accolades and the Terriers Amy Ekart (Berthoud, Colo./Berthoud) earned Rookie of the Week recognition. The awards for the week ending May 1 were announced Monday afternoon.
Setterlund hit a robust .625 (10-for-16) with six runs scored, five driven in and four extra-base hits last week. She batted .500 and scored three runs in leading Boston U. to a key three-game sweep over Albany, which vaulted the Terriers into first-place in the league standings with just one weekend of conference play left. Setterlund, who belted a pair of home runs last week, ranks among league leaders with a .411 average, eight homers and 35 driven in.
Weigman and Matthes each hurled at least 20 innings and went 3-0 last week. Weigman, a senior right-hander, compiled a 0.70 ERA allowing just two earned runs in 20 IP on 12 hits. She also fanned 19. Matthes had a 1.20 ERA and struck out 30 in 24 innings of work. The senior righthander fired 23 straight scoreless innings and three complete-game shutouts before allowing her first runs Sunday.
Ekart batted a whopping .643 (9-for-14) and belted a pair of grand slams last week in leading the Terriers past the Great Danes. The freshman catcher, who drove in eight run and scored four, hit both homers on Saturday which led to 7-2 and 6-4 Boston U. wins.
With just one week left in the regular season, Boston U., Albany and Binghamton have secured bids to the America East Softball Championship. All three also remain alive for regular-season titles and for the tournament's top seed. UMBC currently sits in fourth place at 8-10 but is done with its conference schedule. Maine, which is 6-8 in league play, can surpass the Retrievers, for the fourth and final tournament spot with two wins over Hartford next weekend.
Team Notes
Albany (22-21, 11-4 AE)
swept Siena in a non-conference doubleheader on Tuesday before falling to Boston U. in all three games of an America East series over the weekend ... senior first baseman Gina Mason (Sacramento, Calif./El Camino) hit .500 for the week, scoring one run and driving in another ... Freshman Lauren Alcorn (Hummelstown, Pa./Lower Dauphin) hit .357 in five games, recording a team-high three RBI ... Freshman Brittany MacFawn (Orlando, Fla./Timber Creek) struck out a staff-best 13 opposing batters in two games, holding opponents to a .224 batting average ... Katie Wambold (Hatboro, Pa./Hatboro-Horsham) was 3-for-3 on stolen base attempts on the week ... Albany will host Manhattan on Wednesday in a rescheduled non-conference doubleheader, before welcoming Stony Brook to Albany Field over the weekend for a three-game America East series.
Binghamton (21-19, 9-5 AE)
has clinched its first-ever berth in the America East Tournament ... the Bearcats have been a member of the conference since 2002 ... the nine conference wins are the second-highest total in the program's America East era ... Binghamton went 11-13 back in 2002, when the conference had nine teams and the weekend series were four games each ... senior catcher Deannie Plemon (Irvine, Claif/Woodbridge) now has a conference-best 41 RBI this season. She is ranked second on the squad with 10 home runs. For her career, Plemon has a program-best 33 home runs and 120 RBI ... including Sunday's grand slam by freshman disignated hitter Demi Laney (Casselberry, Fla./Lake Howell) the Bearcats have now hit a program-best six grand slams this season.
Boston University (30-14, 12-3 AE)
had an impressive week last week as it swept league rival Albany to take over sole possession of first place in the America East standings ... Freshman Amy Ekart (Berthoud, Colo./Berthoud) had two grand slams against the Great Danes to bring the Terriers season total to seven grand slams ... Senior April Setterlund (Torrance, Calif./South Torrance) drove in five runs and batted (.643) over five games ... Meanwhile on the mound, sophomore Whitney Tuthill (Middletown, Conn./Suffield Academy) shut down the Great Danes' offense with her first shutout of the season ... BU will play one non-conference contest this week against Boston College on Thursday (May 5) at 4 p.m., before heading to Binghamton on Saturday (May 7) and Sunday (May 8) for a crucial three-game series, which will determine the America East's regular season champion ... With two wins, the Terriers can clinch at least a share of the league's regular-season title and the No. 1 seed for the conference championship.
Hartford (7-33, 2-13 AE)
went 0-3 on the week as it dropped a three-game series at UMBC ... in Baltimore, the Hawks were outscored by the Retrievers, 20-4 ... Hartford fell 8-1 in the first game before dropping an 8-3 decision in the nightcap ... UMBC took the series final by a 4-0 score on Sunday ... the Hawks jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the second inning of the opening game but UMBC responded with a five run, third inning and put the game out of reach with three more in the third ... facing a 2-0 deficit in Game Two, Jordan Haines (King of Prussia, Pa./Upper Merion Area) kept the Hawks in the game with a lead-off homer in the second stanza ... UMBC responded two runs in the bottom of the frame, and added three more in the third to push its lead to 7-1 ... Hartford managed to get two runs back in its final at-bats but fell short of the comeback ... on Sunday, Hartford and UMBC exchanged zeros through five and a half frames before UMBC lit up the scoreboard with four runs to secure the win ... the Hawks conclude their 2011 campaign with six games this week ... Looking to snap a seven-game skid, Hartford returns home for a single game with neighboring CCSU on Wed., May 4 (4:00 p.m.) before hosting Holy Cross in a doubleheader on Thurs., May 5. (3 p.m.) ... The Hawks end their season with a three-game set at Maine.
Maine (17-29, 6-8 AE)
went 1-3 over the weekend in its America East bye weekend as it defeated St. Joseph's College of Maine 8-0 in a midweek contest before dropping a doubleheader (2-1, 4-2) at Iona on Saturday ... Freshman hurler Kylie Sparks (Kirkland, Wash.) picked up her first career completely game shutout victory on Wednesday as she gave up just four hits with three strikeouts in the victory ... Junior Margaret Hilton (Lyndonville, Vt.) had a career day for the Black Bears as she went 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles and three runs scored ... The Black Bears lost in tough fashion in game one at Iona as the Gaels were able to plate a run in the bottom of the seventh on a sac-fly to break a 1-1 tie for the victory ... Terren Hall (Bucksport, Maine) continues her record-breaking senior season as she ripped three doubles on the week and now holds the school-record for most doubles in a career with 43. Hall broke the record of 41 doubles set by Ashley Waters from 2005-09 ... Hall is now just four walks shy of tying the record for most walks in a season which is currently at 29 ... The Black Bears wrap up the regular season as they are back in America East action with a three game series at home against Hartford ... The two teams will meet up for a doubleheader beginning at 12 p.m. on Saturday and conclude the series with a single game on Sunday, May 8 beginning at 12 p.m ... The Black Bears can secure a bid to the America East Champioship with two wins over Hartford this weekend ... Sunday will be senior day for Maine as it will honor its four seniors prior to the game against Hartford.
UMBC (25-21, 8-10 AE)
went 5-0 last week, taking two from La Salle in non-conference action and three from America East rival Hartford… Four Retrievers batted .400 or better on the week, led by junior first baseman Katie Ferguson (North East, Md./North East/Cecil CC), who went 7-for-16 with three home runs… Senior Stephanie Weigman (Elkridge, Md./Archbishop Spalding) allowed just two runs in 20.0 innings spanning three complete games … UMBC batted .341 as a team while holding opponents to a .183 average and outscoring the other teams, 33-6, on the week… The Retrievers slugged six home runs in a doubleheader sweep of La Salle… Ferguson and senior left fielder Julia Culotta (Street, Md./North Harford/Tennessee) each went deep twice… Culotta became the eighth Retriever ever to hit 20 career home runs… Senior second baseman Lauren Brummell (Hanover, Va./Hanover) became the ninth Retriever ever to collect 200 career hits when she led off the nightcap with a home run… Freshman third baseman Jessica Warner (Huntingtown, Md./Huntingtown) went 5-for-10 in three games against Hartford, while sophomore right fielder Ashley Scroggin (Stafford, Va./North Stafford) went 3-for-6 with a double, triple and four RBIs… Weigman blanked the Hawks on five hits in the series finale, UMBC’s first shutout of the season and the 10th of her career… Brummell ranks second all-time at UMBC with 47 career doubles … Five Retrievers are batting better than .300 this season, led by Culotta’s .386 average… Weigman is 16-12 with 132 strikeouts… She is the third Retriever ever to win at least 15 games in two different seasons, and the first to strike out at least 100 batters all four years … The Retrievers have the week off before visiting Longwood on Saturday, where they will also face East Carolina.
Stony Brook (19-25, 5-10 AE)
posted a 4-1 record last week with a pair of wins over Quinnipiac on Wednesday and a pair of wins over Binghamton on Saturday ... Stony Brook defeated Quinnipiac by scores of 2-0 and 4-3 (8 innings) on the strength of pitchers Colleen Matthes (Severn, Md.) and Alex Clark (Warsaw, Va.) ... Matthes shut out the Bobcats in game one and registered eight strikeouts, before Clark tossed 7.1 innings of three-run ball to help the Seawolves to the sweep...sophomore Gina Bianculli (Oakdale, N.Y.) knocked in the game-winning run in game two against the Bobcats with a walk-off single in the bottom of the eighth...on Saturday, the Seawolves swept Binghamton by scores of 3-0 and 6-1 ... Matthes pitched all 14 innings Saturday and did not allow an earned run, while striking out nine in each game ... sophomore Taylor Chain (Gloucester, N.J.) provided the big hit in game two with a two-out grand slam in a six-run fifth inning ... on Sunday against Binghamton, the Seawolves jumped out to a 6-0 lead, but could not hold on in a 9-8 (8 innings) defeat ... Bianculli provided a three-run double in the first to help Stony Brook start fast ... the Seawolves trailed 8-6 in the bottom of the seventh, until freshman Jessica Combs (Hammonton, N.J.) tied the game with a two-RBI double ... Combs finished the week with a .563 average (9-for-16), six RBI and three stolen bases ... Matthes was 3-0 with a 1.75 ERA and 30 strikeouts in 24 innings last week...Matthes pitched 23 straight innings without giving up an earned run last week, before surrendering a pair of runs in the top of the third against Binghamton on Sunday ... the Seawolves will wrap up the regular season this week with two games at Seton Hall on Tuesday and three games at Albany over the weekend.