CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Three America East softball standouts who led their respective teams to wins last week are this week's America East softball honorees. UMBC's Jessica Warner earned Player of the Week honors after belting four extra-base hits, including three home runs. Stony Brook rookie hurler Allison Cukrov allowed just one earned run in 17 innings of work and earned Pitcher of the Week accolades while Cukrov's teammate Shayla Giosia took home Rookie of the Week honors. The softball awards for the week ending March 11 were announced Monday afternoon.
In five games, Warner (Huntingtown, Md.) batted.353 (6-for-17) with three home runs, a double, five RBI and five runs scored to earn Player of the Week accolades. She hit two homers and knocked in four in UMBC's win 6-0 win over Towson., driving in four of UMBC’s six runs in the shutout victory. Warner, who hit her fourth long ball of the year Sunday, slugged .941 for the week. She is batting a team-best .380 (19-for-50) with 10 extra base hits so far this season.
Cukrov (Irvine, Calif.) dazzled last week, allowing just one run and posting a 0.41 ERA in three appearances to earn her second straight Pitcher of the Week award. The right-hander struck out 24 strikeouts in 17 innings pitched at the LaQuinta Inn and Suites Spring Break Tournament and walked only five. On Friday against Howard, Cukrov came on in relief and earned the win with three shutout innings and five strikeouts in a 13-1 decision in five innings. On Saturday, Cukrov helped Stony Brook make history by earning the win in the Seawolves' first-ever victory over a Pac-10/12 opponent. She fired a three-hit shut out and struck out a career-best 12 in a 1-0 eight-inning win vs. Utah.
Giosia (Runnemede, N.J.) hit .368 in six games last week to help SBU go 5-1 and was recognized as the Rookie of the Week for the first time. Giosia, who knocked in three runs and scored five, also hit her second-career homer that week. She had her best game in a win over St. Francis Pa., going 2-for-3 with a homer, two RBI and two runs scored. The freshman outfielder was also a perfect 10-for-10 in the field.
Team Notes
Albany (5-5) improved on its record at the Adidas Invitational, going 3-2 this past weekend ... All five games that the Great Danes played were decided by one run ... UAlbany tallied wins over Campbell, 2-1, Winthrop, 5-4 and UNC-Wilmington 3-2 ... Head coach Chris Cannata recorded her 500th career victory at UAlbany in the win over Campbell ... Charlise Castro, Brittany MacFawn and Brittany Schwieger were all named to the Adidas Invitational All-Tournament Team ... Charlise Castro (Saugerties, N.Y./ Kingston) continues to carry the load offensively for the Great Danes by hitting two more home runs this past weekend ... Castro has now hit four home runs in 10 games this season ... Brittany MacFawn (Orlando, Fla./ Timber Creek) grabbed her first victory of the season against Campbell, going seven strong innings allowing one unearned run and striking out 10 batters ... MacFawn has now tallied 25 K's in 23.0 IP ... Brittany Schwieger (Orangevale, Calif./ Sacramento City College) had to earn her second win this season by pitching eight innings against Winthrop ... Schwieger struck out nine and allowed four runs on six hits ... UAlbany finishes up its preseason tournaments at Fairfax, Va. in the Cherry Blossom Classic, which is hosted by George Mason on March 16 through the 18th.
Binghamton (6-8) won three out of four games at the adidas/Longwood Classic this past weekend. Junior pitcher Kate Price (Brewerton, N.Y./Central Square) nailed down both saves in a two-game sweep on Sunday. She went four innings allowing only on base runner. Price now has a program-record 10 career saves ... junior outfielder Jessica Phillips (Syracuse, N.Y./Cicero North) went 3-for-10 over the weekend and is now batting .312 ... sophomore first baseman Mikala King (Binghamton, N.Y./Chenango Valley) continues to lead the team with a .349 batting average. She is also tied for the team lead with three home runs and has driven in a team-best 11 runs this season ... senior outfielder Meghan Tucker (Kirkwood, N.Y./Windsor) continues to have her best season at the plate. She is currently batting a career-high .333 ... sophomore pitcher Demi Laney (Casselberry, Fla./Lake Howell) went 3-for-5 in Saturday's split ... Senior pitcher Kristen Emerling (Germantown,
Tenn./Houston) pitched five shutout innings on Sunday against host Longwood.
Boston U. (9-5) went 4-1 at Under Armour Showcase and picked up two wins over ranked teams by knocking off #23 Syracuse, 1-0, and defeating rv/rv USC Upstate, 4-2....Terriers now riding four game winning streak...Boston U. shutout both Northern Iowa and Syracuse and only allowed six runs in five games...Terriers had 11 hits against USC Upstate, including back-to-back doubles in two innings...Boston U. hit five doubles and a triple against the Spartans with two players, Chelsea O'Connor and Megan Volpano, each hitting a pair of doubles...Sophomore Holli Floetker went 3-0 on the mound while junior Whitney Tuthill got her first win of the season (1-1) by pitching a complete game shutout against Syracuse, allowing four hits on the game.
After opening its week with a 6-5 extra inning affair at Rhode Island, Hartford (2-6) went 2-4 at the George Mason Invitational ... On Friday, the Hawks erased a four run deficit and Jordan Haines' (King of Prussia, Pa./Upper Merion Area) walk-off double in the ninth led Hartford to its first victory of 2012, 5-4, over host team George Mason ... In day two, Hartford fell in both games, starting with an 8-2 setback to Cornell and a 9-0 defeat by George Mason ... On Sunday, the Hawks split two games, first dropping their third extra inning affair of the week to Cornell (6-3) before blaking the Pioneers, 3-0 in the nightcap ... In that victory, the Hawks jumped out to the 3-0 advantage with rookie Peyton Fisher's (Kelowna, British Columbia/Kelowna Secondary) triple proving to be the game changing hit ... Siera Sheehan (Binghamton, N.Y./Chenango Valley) went the distance in the outing, scattering just six hits while striking out four en route to her first shutout this year ... The Hawks take four days off before heading to the Sunshine State for the UCF Invitaitonal ... During a span of three days, Hartford will play five games, including match-ups with Coastal Carolina, Univ. of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Dartmouth and Colgate.
UMBC (7-10) went 2-3 in five games this week, including a 1-3 mark over the weekend in the UMBC Dawg Pound Invitational… On Wednesday, the Retrievers shutout local rival Towson, 6-0, behind the pitching of senior Katie Ferguson (North East, Md./North East/Cecil CC)… The senior limited the Tigers to just three hits while throwing a complete game… Sophomore Jessica Warner (Huntingtown, Md./Huntingtown) hit two two-run homeruns to lead UMBC… Classmate Caitlin Chance (Easton, Md./Easton) went 1-for-2 with an RBI double for the Retrievers… In the Dawg Pound Invitational, UMBC defeated Siena, 5-2, but lost to Mount St. Mary’s, Niagara and Seton Hall… Against the Saints, Chance picked up another double, while senior Ashley Carver (Swoyersville, Pa./Wyoming Valley West) hit a two-RBI single… Warner leads the team with a .380 batting average (19-for-50) and ten extra base hits, including four homeruns… Ferguson has four of the team’s seven wins, posting a UMBC-best .276 ERA… UMBC returns to action next weekend when the Retrievers host the four-day UMBC Spring Classic tournament.
Maine (5-16) went 1-6 over the past week and was able to snap its 10 game losing streak with a 1-0 shutout victory over Cal State Northridge on the final game of the week ... The Black Bears began the week by dropping a pair of games in San Diego to San Diego and San Diego State before losing its first four games at the Northridge Classic until picking up a win in the finale on Sunday ... Beth Spoehr (Appleton, Wis.) paced Maine in the win as the junior tossed a complete game two-hit shutout. It was Spoehr's second complete game shutout of the season, and the XXX of her career, as she also defeated Long Island in a complete game three-hit shutout back on Feb. 12 ... Rookie EmJ Fogel paced Maine's offensive attack in the win as she went 2-for-4 while driving in the lone run of the ballgame on her first career triple ... Fogel led the Maine offense over the weekend as she hit .313 with five hits and two walks. For the year, Fogel also leads Maine's offense she the freshman is batting .346 ... Maine returns to action on Saturday, March 17 as it travels to battle Hofstra and UConn in Hempstead, N.Y.
Stony Brook (10-4) went 5-1 at the LaQuinta Inn and Suites Spring Break Tournament in Ft. Myers, Fla. over the weekend...the Seawolves defeated Howard by a score of 13-1, St. Francis (Pa.) by a score of 10-3, Colgate by a mark of 9-4, Utah by a score of 1-0 and Georgetown by a score of 4-3, while falling to host Florida Gulf Coast, 1-0...for the weekend, the Seawolves outscored their opponents 37-12 and posted a team ERA of 1.88...Stony Brook made history by beating its first-ever Pac-10/12 team on Saturday in a 1-0 win over Utah...freshman Allison Cukrov (Irvine, Calif./Irvine) struck out 12 Utah batters in eight innings and limited the Utes to just three hits in the extra-inning win...Cukrov also picked up a victory in relief against Howard (three innings, 5 strikeouts) and took a hard-luck loss against FGCU (six innings, seven strikeouts) to finish the weekend with a 2-1 record, a 0.41 ERA and 24 K's in 17 innings...sophomore pitcher Christine Lucido (Melville, N.Y./Walt Whitman) posted a 2-0 mark over the weekend with wins over St. Francis (Pa.) and Georgetown to bump her record to 4-0 on the season...senior Alyssa Hawley led the team with a .471 average to go along with six runs, five RBI and three steals in six games...six Stony Brook players hit better than .300 over the weekend and five players recorded at least three RBI during that span...Stony Brook went 13-for-15 in stolen base attempts in Florida...Stony Brook's lone home run of the weekend came off the bat of freshman Shayla Giosia (Runnemede, N.J./Gloucester Catholic), who hit her second-career blast in a 10-3 win over St. Francis...Stony Brook will open the home portion of its schedule Wednesday vs. Texas Tech at 2 p.m.