Sunday Results

Fordham finished off its opening weekend by falling 3-1 to Georgia Tech and 1-0 to Chattanooga. We now know two things about this year's Fordham team: Chelsea Plimpton is a very effective pitcher and maybe if she was pitched a little more last year we would be seeing more of Jen Mineau, but my second point is that this offense is STRUGGLING. Fordham did face some good pitching this weekend, but they were only able to put up two runs. Of the 18 hits the Rams had, Jocelyn Dearborn and Samantha Pellechio had 4 each, needless to say I think Fordham will be working very hard in the cage this week. The defense and pitching kept them in the games, but the offense couldn't come through. Fordham needed two wins this weekend, as the next few tournaments the Rams play in are even tougher.

Charlotte lost to Iona 11-3 and beat UNC Wilmington 4-2 for the A10's lone win on Sunday. The 49ers are going to be an interesting team to watch in 2011, as they were all over the place this weekend. Katy Hackett cemented her spot as Charlotte's number 1 going 2-0 with a 1.93 ERA and 12 SO in 14.0, of course she did not face the same caliber competition as Charlotte's other two pitchers. I came into the season with questions abut those pitchers and now I see why Katie Watkins and Kalie Lang were thrown to the wolves (so to speak) and finished the weekend with ERAs of 20.25 and 22.24 respectively. I am hoping those numbers will drop in the coming weeks, if not Coach DeVos will need to start putting Katy Hackett out there a little more or the 49ers will be in big trouble. The offense was decent this weekend and five starters finished with BAs over 0.300. I would like to see Coach DeVos run a little bit more since the 49ers are not a big threat with the longball. Charlotte will see even easier opponents next week and run-rules losses will not be acceptable.

URI finished its tough opening weekend by being run-ruled by Arkansas 8-0 in 5 innings. Well it was ugly on many levels this weekend for the Rams from being held without a baserunner on Friday, to two one-run losses on Saturday, this was just a weekend to forget. On Saturday, URI was able to get on the board putting up 10 runs. Nicole Massoni was the star at the plate for the Rams hitting 2 HR with 4 RBI. Brittany Julich was no slouch either leading the squad with a 0.417 BA and 5 hits on the weekend. Freshman Jocelyn Mattison got off to a strong start hitting 0.308 on the weekend. In the circle, there weren't many positives as there were a lot of walks and hits. The Rams allowed more than a walk per inning and 2 hits per innings, not the greatest numbers for winning games. Not a single Ram pitcher finished with an ERA below 9.00. Hopefully, these two weeks off can give the Rams a good chance to get back to basics.

St. Louis lost 11-3 in 5 innings to UT Martin. The Billikens got off to a strong start this weekend, but it came crashing down in the last two games. Sunday's game was a complete disaster as UT Martin was all over Kelcie Matesa. Matesa could not get in a rhythm at all as the Skyhawks put up 11 runs in the 1st two innings. It put the offense in too big of a hole to get out of. The Billikens got some runners on base, but they just couldn't pull it together. This weekend we learned that St. Louis has a pretty decent offense and defense, but the pitching needs to be worked on. Julian Austin had a solid debut weekend going 1-1 with a 3.65 ERA to lead the squad. Matesa and Hannah Huebbe were on their game at times, during others no so much. At the plate nine Billikens ended the weekend with BA over 0.300, however they did not manage a single HR. Jessica Van Nostrand made an early case for A10 Rookie of the Year hitting 0.417 with 3 RBI and she also played flawless defense at shortstop. The competition is going to get a little tougher at Florida Gulf Coast, but I think the Billikens should still be able to pick up 3 wins again next weekend.

So far it was been an ugly day for the A10...who's looking forward to next weekend when UMass and St. Joseph's return to the field?