CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Standout performances from Albany's Charlise Castro as well as Stony Brook's Allison Cukrov and Shayla Giosia have netted the trio America East's softball weekly awards. Castro picked up her first career Player of the Week honor while Cukrov netter her third Pitcher of the Week award of the season and Giosia was named Rookie of the Week for the third time. The weekly accolades for the week ending April 8 were announced Monday afternoon.
Castro (Saugerties, N.Y.) had a monster week in leading Albany to six wins as she .682 (15-for-22) with 10 extra-base hits, including four doubles, two triples and four home runs. The sophomore first baseman factored in on 25 of the Great Danes' run, driving in 13 and scoring 12. Castro, who has helped Albany build an 11-game win streak, leads the conference in all three triple crown categories: hitting (.476), home runs (11) and RBI (35).
Cukrov (Irvine, Calif.) went 2-0 and fired 12 scoreless innings last week to earn her third Pitcher of the Week honor. The freshman hurler fired just the third perfect game in Stony Brook's Division I history on Thursday at Manhattan, striking out 12 of the 15 batters she faced in the Seawolves' 9-0 five-inning win. For the week, Cukrov allowed just four base runners (three hits, one walk) in 12 innings of work while fanning 21. She has a league-best 1.17 ERA and has 13 of Stony Brook's 22 wins this season.
Giosia (Runnemede, N.J.) picked up her second Rookie of the Week award after hitting .667 (6-for-9) in three games last week with four doubles, six RBI adnt three runs scored. She slugged 1.111 and recorded six hits in her first seven at-bats last week. Giosia ranks fifth among league leaders batting .361 and is second with 27 RBI.
The third weekend of conference play saw Albany take all three games from Hartford, Binghamton go 3-0 against UMBC and Boston U. take two from Maine before the third game was called off due to rain. This weekend, Albany visits Boston U., Maine hosts Binghamton and UMBC welcomes Stony Brook for three-game series.
Team Notes
Albany (24-7, 8-1 AE) has caught fire, winning all six games last week to extend its winning streak to 11 games ... The Great Dane offense was able to score seven runs or more during the six-game roadtrip to total 53 runs and allow just 10 runs in 37 innings played ... After going 0-3 to start the season, UAlbany has won its 24 of its last 28 games ... Charlise Castro (Saugerties, N.Y./ Kingston) has been the catalyst to Great Dane offense, going an eye-popping 15-for-22 with four doubles, two triples, four homers, 13 rbis and 12 runs scored this past week ... She raised her batting average 71 points from .406 to .477 and now has a seven-game hitting and RBI streak ... Brittany MacFawn (Orlando, Fla./Timber Creek) has continued her dominant streak in the circle, going 4-0 this past week to improve to 13-3 on the season ... MacFawn has won her last five straight starts and threw her seventh complete-game shutout against Colgate ... She added 27 K's to her season total which is an America East leading 130 K's ... Brittany Schwieger (Orangevale, Calif./ Sacramento City College) was nothing less the stellar in the circle as well, allowing just one run in 11 innings pitched ... Schwieger threw her first complete-game shutout of the season against Hartford ... She improved to 10-2 in the circle while striking out 18 batters this past week ... UAlbany takes its 11-game winning streak back home to Albany Field for a 12-game homestand, beginning with a non-conference doubleheader against Bryant on Tuesday, April 10 ... The Great Danes then follow up with Manhattan on Wednesday, April 11 in another non-conference doubleheader and finish up with an America East Conference weekend series against Boston University.
Binghamton (15-17, 6-3 AE) swept its second straight conference series this past weekend by going 3-0 against UMBC. The Bearcats have now won eight straight home games ... senior outfielder Briana Andrews (Endicott, N.Y./Union-Endicott) went 7-for-10 (.700) last week, including 6-for-8 (.750) in the series against UMBC this past weekend. She drove in five runs against the Retrievers, including the game-winning RBI in the final two games. In the second game of Friday's double header, she smacked a two-out, two-run double that would eventually be the game-winning hit. On Saturday, it was her two-run home run that put Binghamton ahead for good. Andrews finished the week with a 1.100 slugging percentage and a .727 on-base percentage ... freshman shortstop Caitlyn Friis (Newtown, Pa./ Council Rock) finished the week with a .312 batting average, including a 4-for-8 performance (.500) in the series agaisnt UMBC. On Friday against the Retrievers, she went 2-for-3, belted a three-run home run and scored a pair of runs. She ended the series with another 2-for-3 effort against UMBC on Saturday with a run and a RBI. Friis now ranks second on the team in hitting (.286) and third in RBI (16) ... the Bearcat pitching staff held UMBC to a .162 batting average for the series. Sophomore pitcher Demi Laney (Cassleberry, Fla./Lake Howell) picked up a pair of wins and struck out a career-high 11 batters in the first game of Friday's doubleheader. Senior pitcher Kristen Emerling (Germantown, Tenn./Germantown) got the complete-game win in the second game on Friday, going the full seven innings and scattering one run on four hits ... sophomore pitcher Kate Price (Brewerton, N.Y./Central Square) appeared in four games last week, pitched seven scoreless innings and picked up her fourth save of the year.
After dropping a 3-2 decision to Bryant in a non-conference game on Wednesday, Boston U. (22-12, 6-2 AE) responded with a sweep of Maine on Saturday to improve to 22-12 on the season ... The first game of the doubleheader on Saturday went to extra innings (12) and Boston U. prevailed, 2-1...Terriers are now 2-1 in extra inning games this season ... Junior pitcher Whitney Tuthill picked up a pair of victories at Maine, as she pitched the final two innings of the first game in relief of Holli Floetker ... Tuthill then pitched the complete game of Boston U.'s 6-1 victory...Sophomore Megan Volpano led the Terriers with six hits on the week, including two doubles...Classmate Brittany Clendenny also hit two doubles while fellow sophomore Jayme Mask scored a team-best three runs.
Hartford (4-27, 0-9 AE) went 0-5 on the week, dropping a pair of mid-week games at Iona on Tuesday before Albany swept three games from the Hawks in their America East home opener over the weekend ... The Hawks, who were outscored by a margin of 40-5 on the week, hit just .155 on the week, while allowing their opponents to hit at a clip of .440 ... Senior Shannon Simpkins (Millville, N.J./Sacred Heart) paced Hartford at the plate with a .375 batting average (3-for-8) while Jordan Haines (King of Prussia, Pa./Upper Merion Area) and Chelsey Mooney (Corona, Calif./Corona) also collected three hits ... During the eight-game stretch, the Hawks were held without an extra base hit ... On Tuesday, Iona took game one by a 7-1 final and scored a 3-1 victory in game two ... Both of Saturday's games against the Great Danes were five-inning affairs as the Hawks suffered 10-1 and 12-0 setbacks ... On Sunday, Hartford hung with Albany, tying the game at 1-1 in the third frame but surrendered a pair of runs in the top of the fifth and five more in the sixth ... Hartford looks to bounce back from an 18-game skid this week with six games ... The Hawks first host in-state foe Fairfield in a doubleheader on Tuesday (2:30 p.m.) before traveling to Holy Cross on Thursday for a twinbill (3 p.m.) ... Hartford wraps up its bye week on Sunday by welcoming Manhattan to West Hartford for a pair of games, starting at 12 p.m.
Maine (7-24, 0-5 AE) went 1-2 over the past week as it defeated non-conference foe Husson 9-0 in five innings before dropping a pair to Boston University in Maine's home opener ... The Black Bears are now 2-3 in their last five home openers ... In the win over Husson, senior hurler Ashley Kelley (Hermon, Maine) picked up her third win of the season after tossing five innings of shutout ball while giving up just three hits and a season high nine strikeouts ... Jennifer Eberhardt (Glendale, Ariz.) and Margaret Hilton (Lyndonville, Vt.) each homered for Maine. For Hilton, it was the first long ball of her career. Eberhardt now has a seven game hit streak ... Maine and BU squared off in doubleheader action on Saturday. The Terriers led 1-0 with two away in the bottom of the seventh until pinch hitter Jean Stevens (Albany, Ore.) hit a home run to tie things. BU would win in 12 innings. It was the longest game for the Black Bears since going 12 innings in an 8-6 win at Stony Brook on March 30, 2008. Kelley also went the distance in the 12-inning contest, tossing over 150 pitches in the loss. She ended the weekend at 1-1 with a 0.82 ERA and 15 strikeouts ... Maine was defeated in game two 6-1. Hilary Kane (Concord, N.H.) blasted a home run in the bottom of the seventh with two outs, making it the second time in two games that has happened. Game three was cancelled due to inclement weather. Maine will welcome Binghamton to Orono for a three game series starting with a doubleheader on Saturday at noon.
UMBC (17-19, 1-5 AE) dropped all four games this past week, including a three-game series at Binghamton this weekend… Sophomore Jessica Warner (Huntingtown, Md./Huntingtown) hit .500 (6-for-12) in the four-game stretch including two homeruns and two doubles… For the season the third baseman is batting a team-best .396 (44-for-111) to go along with 10 homeruns and 10 doubles… She also leads UMBC with 25 runs scored and 24 RBIs… Freshman Taylor Hall (Cosby, Va./Cosby), last week’s America East Rookie of the Week, hit .308 (4-for-13) with all four hits going for extra bases… She is second on the team, behind only Warner, with four homeruns and 17 RBIs… UMBC heads back to the diamond on Wednesday to host in-state rival Mount St. Mary’s… First pitch at the UMBC Softball Stadium is scheduled for 2 p.m.
Stony Brook (22-9, 5-1 AE) posted a 2-1 record last week with a win over Long Island and a split at Manhattan...on Tuesday, the Seawolves silenced LIU, 7-0, as freshman Allison Cukrov (Irvine, Calif./Irvine) struck out nine batters over seven innings...freshman Shayla Giosia (Runnemede, N.J./Gloucester Catholic) and senior Bernadette Tenuto (Audubon, N.J.) each went 3-for-4 as the top four hitters in Stony Brook's lineup combined to go 10-for-16 with five runs and six RBI...On Thursday at Manhattan, Cukrov tossed a perfect game in the opener, striking out 12 of the 15 batters she faced in a 9-0 win...it was just the third perfect game in Stony Brook's Division I history (since 1999) and was the second time Cukrov has held an opponent hitless this season...Cukrov finished the week 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA and 21 strikeouts in 12 innings...Cukrov's 12 strikeouts against Manhattan tied a career high as she also fanned 12 against Utah on March 10...Cukrov has now won nine straight starts and has allowed only six total runs in her last 10 appearances, boasting an ERA of 0.70 during that span...Cukrov now has nine shutouts this season, which is just two shy of tying Alyssa Struzenberg's single-season record of 11...Giosia finished the week 6-for-9 with a team high six RBI after a 3-for-3, four-RBI effort in the first game at Manhattan...the Jaspers downed the Seawolves 5-2 in the second game...Stony Brook returns to action Monday with a home doubleheader against Rider at 2:30 p.m., before traveling to UMBC this weekend for a three-game series.