The calendar flipped to spring this week and brings with it the start of conference play for six of America East's softball squads. Boston University, UMBC and stony Brook will host series this weekend with the Terriers hosting Binghamton, the Retrievers entertaining Albany and the Seawolves welcoming Hartford. All three sets will feature doubleheaders starting at 1 p.m. on Saturday and single games Sunday.
The league had success during the non-conference portion of the schedule. Stony Brook (14-6) enters conference play with America East's best record. The Seawolves, who have won four straight and 13 of their last 16, lead the conference with a .286 team average and are scoring a league-best 5.0 runs per game. Two freshmen, Shayla Giosia and Allison Cukrov, have keyed Stony Brook's success. Giosia leads the league in average (.381) and is second in RBI (16) while Cukrov has six wins on the mound and ranks second with a 1.71 ERA.
Boston University (16-8), the league's preseason favorite, is riding a five-game win streak and has a league-best 16 wins. The Terriers have rode their pitching which features reigning Pitcher of the Year Holli Floetker, who is a conference-best 11-2 and ranks third with a 1.86 ERA. Jayme Mask paces the offense, hitting .362 while scoring 16 runs.
Albany (11-6), the reigning league champion, is also hot, having won 11 of its last 14 games. Like the Terriers, the Great Danes' pitching has been the difference. Brittany MacFawn, last year's Most Outstanding Player at the America East Championship, has a league-best 1.34 ERA and is in the midst of a 29-inning scorless streak.
UMBC (11-12), Binghamton (7-11), Hartford (4-12) and Maine (6-19) round out the league standings entering conference play. The Black Bears have the bye this week and will open their America East schedule next weekend at Albany.
The top four
teams at the end of the seven-week round robin schedule will qualify for
the 2012 America East Softball Championship, which the top seed will
host, May 10-12.