Weekend Recap

Charlotte: The 49ers had a good weekend going 3-2 and winning their Green and White Tournament. However, the biggest development of the weekend was Coach DeVos asking Katy Hackett to throw back to back games on Saturday. This has been something that Coach DeVos has been reluctant to do in the past, but she has decided this is going to be Katy Hackett's year. I, for one believe it is the right move. The rest of the A10 is looking very good this year so Charlotte will need to bring it every time out and for the 49ers to do that Katy Hackett must be in the circle. It worked last year for UMass with Sara Plourde, so it will be interesting to see how the 49ers fare. Elsewhere for the 49ers, Tenaya Tucker, Briana Gwaltney, and Kalie continued to provide the power in the lineup. Right now those three players along with Whitney Williams, Kendra McCall, and Jalisa Rock are the threats in the lineup for Charlotte. Hopefully the whole lineup will be ready this week when Charlotte hits the road to face UNC and Furman. After the hurting St. Joe's put on UNC, it will be interesting to see how the 49ers fare against UNC.

Dayton: I was waiting to see an Alysha Isaacson start and I was not disappointed. Isaacson had a stellar weekend throwing 2 complete game wins for the Flyers. She led the Flyers to a 4-1 record on the weekend, which is exactly what this squad needed to do. I am curious to see how Coach LaPlaca distributes the innings moving forward. Dayton won the games they were supposed to and that is a very good sign moving forward. The Flyers also got it done at the plate and the squad is now hitting a solid .285 at the plate. Rachel Archer is leading the squad with a .435 average and she is doing a nice job of filling Molly Meyer's shoes. Kathleen Maloof is continuing to hit the ball well and she currently sits at .419 on the year. Coach LaPlaca is not holding anything back on offense and this team is going for it on the bases. The Flyers are 13 for 16 in SB, so maybe she took a page out of former SLU coach John Conway's book. The Flyers are going to have a tough weekend coming up at Texas Tech, but if they continue to play this way those Red Raiders could be in for a battle.

Chelsea Plimpton

Fordham: The Rams had a solid weekend going 3-2 against some good competition out in Palm Springs. Chelsea Plimpton continued her great senior season by picking up 2 wins and throwing well enough to win in another game. Jen Mineau went 1-1 on the weekend, but perhaps most importantly, she threw two complete games. That is a great sign for the Rams and I think they may have the best pitching staff in the A10 this year. Fordham offense struggled a little bit this weekend, but they also had important breakthroughs. Against Texas on Friday, Gabby Luety hit the 1st HR of the season for Fordham and my fingers are crossed for many more. Fordham won both games that they were supposed to win and also managed to take one that they weren't supposed to (Texas). Fordham is plugging along this year and this pace should be enough to get them into regionals. On offense, Nicole Callahan has come on as of late hitting .300 to lead the Ram offense along with Jocelyn Dearborn, Samantha Pellechio, and Lindsey Bright. Fordham has another tough slate of games this weekend, but things seem to be falling into place for the Rams.

George Washington: The Colonials season may be just 4 games in, but already you can tell they are a much better squad. George Washington went 2-2 on the weekend picking up wins against Iona and Norfolk State and they were also competitive in both losses. In the circle, Kara Clauss was dominant this weekend going 2-1 with a 0.84 ERA and she allowed just 2 runs in 16.2 IP. Heidi Penna had her moments, but she still has some areas she needs to work on. On offense the Colonials hit a solid .262, but compared with last year's marks that number looks outstanding. Right away you could see the impact of freshmen Chelsea Lenhart and Chelsea Curcio on the lineup as they hit .467 and .364 respectively. The Colonials will still need some more production from the rest of the lineup, but these are some good signs. George Washington beat a solid Iona squad that advanced to regionals last year, so maybe there is some hope for the Colonials this year.

La Salle: The Explorers much like George Washington, needed a good start and while La Salle only went 1-3, I think they got the start they were looking for. La Salle had three close games and one not so close one, but it is a good sign that they battled. La Salle also faced one of the most underrated squads in the nation in USC Upstate and while the Explorers did not manage to get a hit, La Salle did keep the Spartans off the bases. In the circle, DJ Guinn and Laura Beth McCreesh were solid and it will be interesting to see how they do at the Rebel Games coming up. On offense, freshmen Jackie McBride and Megan Hodgson led the way hitting .400 and .364 respectively. McBride was responsible for driving in half of the runs this weekend for the Explorers and we are excited to see how she develops moving forward. La Salle will see the competition get a little easier at the Rebel Games and that is when La Salle needs to make its mark. If La Salle can come out of the Rebel Games with a winning record, everything else may fall into place for this squad.

UMass: Well, the Minutewomen played arguably the toughest set of games of any team in the country this weekend and it showed as UMass went 0-5 on the weekend. Starting with the ugly: the Minutewomen managed just 2 runs in the four games they played against ranked opponents and both of those came against Washington. In addition, the Minutewomen defense let down the pitchers committing 8 errors on the weekend contributing to a multitude of unearned runs. In the circle, UMass had an up and down weekend with both Sara Plourde and Lindsey Webster showing flashes of brilliance at times and issues with control at others. Even though it was not their best performance Plourde and Webster showed that they will be a force this year in the A10. The MVP of UMass for the weekend was Kyllie Magill who recorded a hit in all but one game and she is now hitting .323 to lead the squad. If Magill can hit like this against Top 25 pitching she may be a force to be reckoned with in A10 play. In UMass' final game of the weekend against Fresno State: freshman Tiffany Meeks may have won back her spot in the lineup going 3-3 with a HR and 2 RBI. Meeks has some real pop in her bat and it will be interesting to see if she stays in the lineup.

Rhode Island: honestly, I'm not sure what to make of the Rams right now. URI fell to 0-10 after another winless weekend and while I didn't expect them to win any games it doesn't make me any less disappointed that they couldn't pull out at least one win. Clearly, the biggest issues for this squad are in the circle and honestly I'm just not sure what to make of them. Right now I'm not expecting to see the Rams in Charlotte, as they are not getting the job done and the rest of the A10 is looking pretty good right now. Jocelyn Mattison and Fallon Scorpio have looked good in their freshmen campaigns, but there have not been many other highlights. Brittany Julich also did not play at all this weekend, hopefully she will back soon as the Rams desperately missed her bat.

Monica Aguilar

St. Joseph's: I think I had some surprised readers after I made some bold predictions for St. Joseph's this year and this weekend the Hawks made a statement. While UMass and Fordham were off in California, St. Joseph's had a 3-1 weekend with wins over UNC (run rule), NC State, and Georgetown and one loss to NC State by 7-6 score. The Hawks are hitting .295 at the plate led by table-setter Dana Parks who is hitting .556 and Monica Aguilar who is hitting .400 with 9 RBI. Clearly, the top hitter poll at the top of the page was made a bit prematurely as both Parks and Aguilar are having great seasons. The offense has been producing so far this year, which has me very excited to see what they can do down in Clearwater over the next two weeks. In the circle, Erin Gallagher was on her game this weekend, but she was not alone as Lauren Pembleton and Taryn Ashway also had some stellar performances. Ashway did suffer the lone loss of the weekend to NC State, but she bounced back the next day to throw 5 innings of 3 hit relief while striking out 8. The Hawks got their defense under control this weekend and that seemed to make everything click. That game against UNC definitely let other teams know that St. Joe's is a force to be reckoned with this year.

St. Louis: The Billikens are on a roll! St. Louis is now on a six game winning streak after sweeping through UAB's Magic City Classic tournament. St. Louis beat some quality mid-major teams this weekend, including Radford, Lipscomb, and Stephen F. Austin. The Billikens also run-ruled Eastern Kentucky, which beat Charlotte twice the week before. It all started in the circle, as the Billikens allowed only two runs on the weekend, only one of which was earned. Hannah Huebbe has been the leader of this staff with solid performances in each of her appearances, but she is not alone, as Julian Austin and Kelcie Matesa bounced back after some rough outings to have very good weekends. The offense is continuing to put runs on the board and you can't ask them to do much more than that. Surprisingly, St. Louis' offense has been getting it done while All-A10 performer Kristin Nicoletti has struggled at the plate. The rest of the team has been getting it done at the plate, especially Kristain Burger who leads the squad with 3 HR and Rachel Faletto who is tops on the squad in terms of average. Just like St. Joseph's, the Billikens came ready to play this year and if they keep playing like they did this weekend it could be a very good year for the A10.

Temple: I came into 2011 thinking that the Owls would be better, but I was not expecting to see the opening weekend that they had. Temple went 3-2 on the weekend including a nice win over host school USF. Temple also gave Missouri a WCWS team from the past two years all it could handle before falling short 8-7. While it's clear the offense is a lot better, I think the biggest difference between this year's Temple squad and last year's is the pitching in the circle. Brooklin White, along with a healthy Crystal Nyman and Kristen Marris gives Coach DiPietro three solid pitchers that he can turn to and they showed that they can get the job done out there. I was very impressed with the way the Owls beat Western Michigan and Central Connecticut, two teams they needed to beat. I was completely surprised by the beatdown Temple put on USF, that game tells me that this team might even better than I thought. Rachel Knable is leading the charge hitting .400 with 1 HR and 8 RBI after just the 1st weekend of play. The Owls were very efficient on offense scoring 35 runs despite only 34 hits. Those are outstanding numbers, but they will be put to the test next weekend when Temple faces even tougher competition.