Morgan Phillips verbals to St. Bonaventure

Morgan Phillips

The Battery Lightning-St. Bonaventure connection continues as 2014 catcher Morgan Phillips has verballed to the Bonnies.

Phillips is a 2014 catcher who plays for the Battery Lightning and Cicero-North Syracuse High School. Phillips comes from an impressive high school and travel ball program and she should be an impressive addition to the Bonnies. Phillips is a right handed power hitter who should hit some long balls when she gets to Olean.

The Battery Lightning is a fairly new travel ball program, but they have already had some impressive results. They have recently had players commit to Michigan, Syracuse, and Hofstra among others. The Battery Lightning recently had Kiera Lorenzo and Des Gonzalez sign with St. Bonaventure for next season. Phillips joins Josie Borysevicz in the Bonnies 2014 recruiting class.

Updated Standings: St. Joseph's, George Washington, Temple, and Fordham have clinched berths

After another exciting weekend of play, some separation was finally created in the standings:

1. St. Joseph's 14-4*
2. George Washington 12-4*
3. Fordham 13-5*
    Temple 13-5*
5. St. Louis 11-7
6. UMass 9-7
~~~~~~~~~~~
7. Dayton 10-9
8. Charlotte 7-9
    Butler 7-9
10. St. Bonaventure 4-16
11. La Salle 3-17
12. Rhode Island 2-13

St. Joseph's, George Washington, Fordham, and Temple have all clinched spots in the A10 Tournament and will battle with each next weekend for the two byes. Fordham will host St. Joseph's and travel to Temple, while George Washington will host both Temple and St. Joseph's.

St. Louis, UMass, Dayton, and Butler will be battling it out for the final two spots in the tournament. UMass has 6 games remaining (@URI, St. Louis, Butler), St. Louis and Butler both have 4 remaining (@URI, @UMass), and Dayton has two games remaining (St. Bonaventure). UMass and St. Louis control their destiny, but there are a lot of games left.

Sarah Prezioso hit 5 HR this weekend

This weekend was a great one for HR, as there were a total of 38 hit this weekend around the A10.
HR list
5 Sarah Prezioso
5 Kelsey Dominik
3 Elise Fortier
3 Ali Robinson
2 Tiffany Meeks
2 Kayla Cook
2 Leah Lucas
1 Quianna Diaz Patterson
1 Lindsey Webster
1 Teea Rogers
1 Courtney Prendergast
1 Stephanie Pasquale
1 Devynne Nelons
1 Julia Kastner
1 Annie Marcopolous
1 Kendra Heyer
1 Ashley Snider
1 Lindsay Friedman
1 Autumn Taylor
1 Gabby Luety
1 Brianna Turgeon
1 Michele Daubman
1 Paige Ortiz

Friday Results

A10 Standings
1. St. Joseph's 11-4
2. George Washington 10-4
3. Fordham 12-5
4. UMass 9-4
5. Temple 10-5
6. St. Louis 11-7
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
7. Dayton 10-7
8. Butler 7-9
    Charlotte 7-9
10. Rhode Island 2-10
11. La Salle 3-15
12. St. Bonaventure 2-15

UMass 2 St. Joseph's 1
WP-Caroline Raymond 12-8
LP-Taryn Ashway 23-3

After falling behind to the Hawks in the bottom of the 5th, the Minutewomen battled back and shocked the league leading Hawks behind a two run HR by Lindsey Webster. UMass and St. Joe's engaged in a war of attrition with the Minutewomen leaving 11 on base and the Hawks leaving 13. Tomorrow should be an intense matchup between these two teams.

Fordham 15 St. Bonaventure 1 (5 innings)
WP-Taylor Pirone 1-0
LP-Carly Bilchak 4-14

The Rams also came to play as they knocked the Bonnies around getting 14 hits, including a triple by Elise Fortier and four HR (Gabby Luety, Michele Daubman, Paige Ortiz, Bri Turgeon). Daubman and Taylor Pirone got the job done in the circle.


Temple 9 Rhode Island 7 (9 innings)
WP-Jessica Mahoney 6-10
LP-Sam Bedore 5-12

Temple and URI squared off in a slugfest that ended up going 9 innings, before Julia Kastner put an end to it with a 2 run HR. Kastner's home run was one of five hit by the Owls, as Ali Robinson, Sarah Prezioso, Leah Lucas, and Kayla Cook also went deep. For Rhode Island, Courtney Prendergast hit a big 3 run HR,

Charlotte 4 St. Louis 2
WP-Katie Watkins 13-14
LP-Brianna Lore 11-13

St. Louis 6 Charlotte 4
WP-Laney Kneib 12-6
LP-Chelsea Lisikatos

The one thing happened that neither team needed down in Charlotte: a split. Both teams need to win out to assure themselves of a spot. Time and games are running out.

A10 Playoff Picture

With just two weekends of conference play left before the conference tournament, the race for those 6 spots is coming down to the wire. Here is where the race stands now:

    Team                                  Games Remaining
1. St. Joseph's 11-3                8 (UMass, Rhode Island, Fordham, George Washington)
2. George Washington 10-4    6 (Dayton, Temple, St. Joseph's)
3. Fordham 11-5                    6 (St. Bonaventure, St. Joseph's, Temple)
4. UMass 8-4                        10 (St. Joseph's, Temple, Rhode Island, Butler, St. Louis)
5. Temple 9-5                        8 (Rhode Island, UMass, George Washington, Fordham)
6. St. Louis 10-6                    6 (Charlotte, Rhode Island, UMass)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`
7. Dayton 10-7                      4 (George Washington, St. Bonaventure)
8. Butler 7-9                          6 (Charlotte, UMass, Rhode Island)
9. Charlotte 6-8                     6 (St. Louis, Butler, La Salle)
10. Rhode Island 2-9            10 (Temple, St. Joseph's, UMass, St. Louis, Butler)
11. La Salle 3-15                  4 (St. Bonaventure, Charlotte)
12. St. Bonaventure 2-14      6 (Fordham, La Salle, Dayton)

At the moment, every team but La Salle and St. Bonaventure is still postseason eligible. There are a lot of matchups between these 10 teams vying for 6 spots. Right now it is almost impossible to predict who will advance to Amherst given the multitude of scenarios. St. Joseph's and Fordham are probably in the best shape at the moment given their current win totals and the games they have remaining. UMass and George Washington have the toughest remaining schedules. If Dayton can beat George Washington this weekend, they will be in very good shape to make it to 14-7. Butler and Charlotte are in virtual must win situations and any loss at the moment is very harmful to either team. Rhode Island must win out and get a lot of help.

Best advice to all: just win. If you win you control your destiny, it's as simple as that.

Here's to two weeks of the closest conference race that the A10 has ever seen!

McKenzie Peace verbals to La Salle

Coach Ron Shoemaker picked up a big verbal from Georgia as 2014 P McKenzie Peace of the Illinois Force verbally committed to play for the Explorers.

Peace comes from the Northgate HS softball dynasty down in Georgia. The Force is a well known travel team, which speaks to just how much of a high caliber pick up this is.  When Peace arrives on campus, the Explorers will have more depth in the circle than it has ever had before with Alicia Aughton, Mary Cate Scott, Val Buehler, Alyssa Bitsimis, and Tori Gollie. Coach Shoemaker knows that success starts in the circle and it is clear that his recruiting efforts are paying off.

Ron Shoemaker is changing the culture at La Salle and he is bringing in his winning ways. After putting together a solid 2013 recruiting class, his 2014 group is shaping up to be a good one. Shoemaker had already picked up commitments from Angelina Refice, a lefty batting 2014 OF from the Lower South Liberty and Valerie Pineiro, a 2014 1B/3B from the NJ Gators Gold.

Temple receives verbal from Isabel Hansbury

After receiving commitments from travel teams with the respective names of Thunder (RI Thunder) and Lightning (New Lenox Lightning), Coach Joe DiPietro continued the trend by picking up a booming verbal from Isabel Hansbury of TNT Gold. All puns aside, this is a big pickup as Hansbury is a corner infielder who can power the ball.

Hansbury currently plays for TNT, but also previously played for the Pennsbury Gems. Hansbury is well versed in most infield positions and also has some experience in the outfield. Her versatility will be a huge asset for Coach DiPietro as the Owls transition to the Big East. Hansbury swings a solid right handed bat and the Owls will look to her to replace some of the production that will be lost when Steph Pasquale and Sarah Prezioso graduate.

Hansbury is the first TNT player to head to Temple since Kate Roth. TNT sent three 2008 graduates to Temple in Jess Hirschbuhl (senior at Hofstra), Sarah Reynolds (LIU), and Samantha Schoell, but only Schoell stuck around for all four years.

Hawks snag two more pitchers!

Niki Carillo

Terri Adams found two more pitchers for St. Joseph's as Niki Carillo recently signed her NLI to play for the Hawks and Madison Clarke verbally committed to play for St. Joe's.

Madison Clarke

Carillo is a 6'1" pitcher from the NJ Pride with tremendous upside. Carillo recently tore her ACL, so she is working her way back from that, but she could be a good one for the Hawks. Carillo already has a strong drop, which should only be further amplified under Coach Adams. Carillo's long levers and imposing presence will make her an outstanding addition to the Hawks.
In perhaps the biggest steal of 2014 recruiting, Adams was able to snag a verbal commitment from Madison Clarke of Edmonton, Alberta. Clarke has good height at 5'10" and is growing into a better pitcher every day. Clarke can put some speed on the ball, as she is consistently in the 62-64 range and has hit 66. Clarke has the tools to get those speeds even higher and she could be a real force to be reckoned with. Big kudos to St. Joe's for going outside its normal recruiting zone to snag Clarke. The last Canadian pitcher in the A10 only won Pitcher of the Year two times and pitched for the Canadian national team at the Athens Olympics.

Terri Adams is known for developing pitchers and this season is no exception, as Taryn Ashway has soared to new heights. Ashway is currently 23-2 with a 1.55 ERA and 149 SO in 157.2 IP, which is one of the best seasons for a Hawk pitcher ever. Her development from her freshman season to her senior season is outstanding. Adams knows pitchers and before Ashway, she helped Dani Gonzales and Erin Gallagher make incredible improvements.

Ashway may be graduating, but the Hawks should be set in the circle with plenty of talent over the next few years. Liz Mendez and Anna Lauterbach will both be back next year and the Hawks will add two new pitchers in addition to Carillo. Emily Rogers has been a stud for Cal Lite the past few summers and she will provide a commanding presence right away for the Hawks. Alex Dominici is a talented infielder and pitcher from the NJ Cheetahs. Dominici could see some time in the circle, but she will likely challenge for a starting spot in the infield right away.