? Albany defeated UMBC, 6-4, to earn the America East Softball Championship for the third year in a row. The fourth-seeded Great Danes were the lowest seed ever to win the championship and only the second program to win three-straight titles.
? Casey Halloran, who tossed a pair of complete games including the title game win, was named Most Outstanding Player for the second-straight year.
? Albany became the first team in conference history to advance to an NCAA Softball Regional Final. The Great Danes defeated Harvard and Hofstra, before falling to No. 7 Baylor at Hempstead, N.Y.
TEAM-BY-TEAM NOTEBOOKS
Albany Great Danes
UAlbany (35-17, AE 11-9) finished the 2007 season by advancing to the championship game at the NCAA Hempstead Regional at Hofstra University... The Great Danes fell to Baylor, 8-2, in the first round, and then won back-to-back games against Harvard and the host Pride to advance to the final game against Baylor... UAlbany fell 10-0 to the Bears, who advanced to the Women’s College World Series... Seniors Kelly Ogden (Pine Bush, N.Y./Pine Bush) and Casey Halloran (East Greenbush, N.Y./Columbia) wrapped up stellar four-year careers for the Great Danes... Ogden, a first-team all-conference honoree at third base, finished as the career leader in hits (202), RBI (156), home runs (26) and doubles (38), is third all-time in runs scored with 127 and ninth overall with seven triples... Halloran, a right-handed pitcher, will go down as one of the most proficient hurlers in UAlbany history, as she finished her four-year career ranked first in wins (73), strikeouts (595), complete games (68), innings pitched (650.2), appearances (125) and games started (97)... She also finished with a career ERA of 2.42, putting her tenth in UAlbany annals... The Great Danes also graduated Michelle Pechacek (Houston, Texas/Klein Forest) and Ashley Pasquarelli (Amsterdam, N.Y./Amsterdam).
Binghamton Bearcats
Binghamton (8-33, 3-17 America East) ended its 2007 with a 5-4 win over Maine on Sunday... Senior outfielder Stephanie Woodcock (Harpursville, N.Y./Harpursville) belted a three-run home run and drove in a career-high four runs in the win... All four of the Bearcat seniors had a hit in the victory...Senior first baseman Christina Quijano (Syracuse, N.Y./Westhill) went 2-for-3 and scored a pair of runs, senior catcher Mia Bieman (Wingham, Ontario/Briarcliff CC) had a RBI single and senior outfielder Emilie Palmcrantz (Leskand, Weden/Long Beach CC) also chipped in a single... Quijano finished the season with a team-high .260 batting average while Bieman drilled a team-best five home runs... Junior outfielder Sarah Eppolito (Manlus, N.Y./Fayetteville-Manlius had a team-high 20 RBI while sophomore pitcher Cyrilla Suker (Voorheesville, N.Y./UMass-Lowell) struck out 142 batters in 115.1 innings (8.63 strikeouts per game).
Boston University Terriers
Boston University (34-14, 17-3 America East) claimed the regular-season title for the fifth time in the program's history... Boston U. was eliminated from the America East Tournament with back-to- back losses to Albany and Hartford... The Terriers swept the conference's year-end softball honors as sophomore Christy Leath (St. Charles, Mo./Francis Howell Central) headlined the award winners as the Player of the Year... Freshmen Rachel Hebert (Humble, Texas/Humble) and Megan Currier (Torrance, Calif./Torrance) earned Rookie and Pitcher of the Year, respectively, while head coach Shawn Rychcik was honored as the Coach of the Year... The Terriers' sweep marked the first time in America East history a team has swept all the major year-end awards... Boston U. had a record-breaking year as it shattered records in home runs (63), runs (282) and RBI (265)... It exceeded its home run record just 20 games into the season... Spearheading the home run derby was senior Chiya Louie (Seattle, Wash./Ingraham), who has left her mark as the Terriers' most prolific home run hitter with 32 in her career... The Terriers continued to rake in the postseason honors as Hebert was named to the NFCA Northeast Region first team, while Leath, Louie, Currier and senior Brandi Shields (Schererville, Ind./Lake Central) were second-team honorees... The Terriers are ranked seventh in the nation with 1.35 homers per game and seventh in slugging percentage (.515).
Hartford Hawks
Hartford (23-27, 12-8 America East) went 1-2 in the America East Championship losing to UMBC (9-5) in game one, eliminating Boston University (7-0) in game two, before ultimately falling to UMBC (3-2) in the semifinals... Heading into the playoffs, Hartford closed out the regular season by winning two out of three games at UMBC and earned the third seed in the upcoming America East Championship... The Hawks will face the second-seeded Retrievers in the first round of the double-elimination tournament on Thursday, May 10... Hartford's only other appearance at the conference championship came during the 2002 season... The Hawks advanced to the championship game in 2002 but lost to Boston University... Freshman Brittney Stratton (Staten Island, N.Y./Tottenville) went 2-0 in the circle last week, picking up both wins against UMBC... She gave up only three earned runs over 14 innings while striking out 12... Her overall record improved to 15-10 on the season, with nine of those wins coming in conference play... Senior Kristie Rochette (Meriden, Conn./Lyman Hall) batted .308 last week and scored a team-high five runs... She also picked up a pair of RBI on her second homer of the season, a shot that gave the Hawks a 2-0 lead in the first game of the UMBC series... She leads the team in hitting with a .314 average... A pair of school records fell last week in non-conference action against Central Connecticut State University... Senior Nikki Thompson (West Seneca, N.Y./John F. Kennedy) hit her team-leading fifth homer of the season, making her the school's all-time career leader with 19 over her four seasons... Rochette also broke the career walks record in the same game and now has 63 free passes.
Maine Black Bears
Maine notes coming soon
UMBC Retrievers
UMBC (32-18, 13-8 America East) saw its season end with a 6-4 loss to Albany in the America East championship game... The Retrievers earned the second seed in the America East Tournament, their highest seeding ever since joining the conference in 2003-04... UMBC used an eight-run second inning to get past No. 3 Hartford, 9-5, on the first day of competition... Junior second baseman Dana Shepherd (Columbia, Md./Oakland Mills) hit her school-record 19th double of the season in the game... Freshman pitcher Amanda Fefel (Baltimore, Md./Catonsville) picked up her first career save... The Retrievers dropped the next game to No. 4 Albany, 2-0, when two unearned runs scored in the sixth... Senior catcher Krissy Licursi (Sussex, N.J./Vernon Township/Sussex County CC) crushed a walk-off homer over the left field fence for a 3-2 victory over Hartford in the third-place contest... The win sent the Retrievers to their first-ever America East title game... Fefel hit her team-best 13th home run of the season in the game... Licursi, Fefel and junior center fielder Kali Shirk (North Wales, Pa./North Penn) were named to the all-championship team... Licursi hit .545 (6-for-11) with two doubles, a homer and five RBI in four games... Fefel hit .357 (5-for-14) and posted a 1.68 ERA... Fefel and senior designated player Melanie Denischuk (Poway, Calif./Hugh Sutherland (Carstairs, Alberta)/Indian River CC) earned America East all-conference first team honors... Junior pitcher Ashley Gray (Pasadena, Md./Northeast/Delaware State) and senior shortstop Reilly Ward (Olney, Md./Sherwood) were named to the second team... Fefel and outfielder Lauren O’Malley (Pasadena, Md./Archbishop Spalding) earned all-rookie team accolades... Denischuk and Shirk garnered all-academic team recognition... Shepherd was selected to the ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District team.
Stony Brook Seawolves
Stony Brook (28-20, 11-9 America East) went 2-3 in the final week of play... In game one of a doubleheader against Marist, Molly Kestranek (St. Mary’s, Ga./Fayetteville-Manilus) homered in the fourth inning to give the Seawolves a 2-1 lead... Stony Brook would take tie the score in the seventh when Marissa Fleury (Mahopac, N.Y./Mahopac) reached on an error allowing Vicki Kavitsky (Cherry Hill, N.J./Cherry Hill East) to score... Marist scored two runs in the top of the ninth inning to beat Stony Brook, 7-5... In game two, Stony Brook scored five runs helped by three Marist wild pitches... Kendall Blumenthal (Frederick, Md./Frederick), Jamie Downer (Glen Cove, N.Y./Glen Cove) and Kavitsky all had RBI hits in the inning... Alyssa Struzenberg (Cooper City, Fla./Cooper City) won her seventh game of the season in the 7-3 win. In the final regular season series against Albany, Stony Brook was swept 3-0 in both games by Albany... Kestranek and Kavitsky had the lone hits for the Seawolves... In the final game of the season, Ashley Westphal, (Huntington Beach, Calif./Edison) gave Stony Brook an early lead with a home run... Downer and Kavitsky each had two RBI for the Seawolves in the 6-1 win... Stony Brook’s 28-20 record was its best in the school’s Division I history.
Vermont Catamounts
Vermont (12-29, 5-16 America East) was swept in the final weekend of the season, falling at home to Boston University in three straight games... Junior Aimee Kern (Wrentham, Mass./King Philip) hit a two-run home run in the second game of a doubleheader on Saturday for her fifth round tripper of the season, tying for the team lead this year and also tying the school single season record... Kern is the school’s all-time home run leader as well with now 13 for her career... On Sunday Kern had one of the Catamounts three hits and in the process extended her hitting streak to a team-high 12 straight games... She also struck out three Boston U. hitters to set a new school single-season strikeout record with 171 for the year, as she surpassed her own record of 168 from last season... Sunday was the season finale for the Catamounts and also Senior Day for Sara Burke (Rochester, N.Y./Aquinas Institute), Kate DeForge (Norwalk, Conn./The Gunnery), Emily Miles (Colchester, Vt./Colchester), Annie O’Brien (St. James, N.Y./Smithtown) and Kate Ramsey (Littleton, N.H./Profile).