Weekend Recap

Charlotte: The 49ers were rained out against Furman on Saturday. Essentially, the weekend was a wash for Charlotte. The 49ers will hit the road once again this week.

Dayton: The Flyers had a rough time against undefeated and 19th ranked Texas Tech, losing three games in run rule fashion, but they did take care of business against Howard. This weekend went as expected with the Flyers beating Howard and losing to Texas Tech. However that is a big step in the right direction for the Flyers as they have not done that in the recent past. Alysha Isaacson had another solid weekend in the circle, continuing her solid freshman season. At the plate, Dayton was led once again by Rachel Archer and Kathleen Maloff, as they continued their stellar seasons. One of the biggest developments of the weekend was Lauren Nacke's power surge, Nacke smacked 3 HR on the weekend, providing a big boost to the Dayton offense.

Fordham: The Rams went 2-3 at the 1st annual Citrus Classic at the Disney Wide World of Sports, but it was a disappointing weekend as Fordham was only able to score 5 runs. Despite the continued struggles of the offense, Chelsea Plimpton and Jen Mineau continued their strong seasons in the circle. Mineau finished 2-1 on the weekend with wins over Illinois State and UNC, while Plimpton was a hard luck loser against Alabama. The good news for Fordham is that with the schedule they have played they have probably done enough to build a solid non conference resume come tournament time, but the bad news is that this team is very inconsistent at the plate. Fordham really needs to find some consistency at the plate, especially with the way Plimpton and Mineau are currently throwing in the circle. Despite all of the struggles, Fordham may be the favorite heading into A10 play. It will be interesting to see whether Fordham can be successful in college play.

George Washington: The Colonials had a good weekend despite a rainout on Sunday, sweeping Patriot League regular season champion Army 6-2 and 6-5. Through nine games, George Washington already has more than half the wins they had last year. Coach Schramm has instilled a much needed toughness in this team. Kara Clauss has been resilient and effective in the circle and the Colonials seem to play their best with her out there. On offense, Chelsea Lenhart has been the leader at the plate and the freshman has provided a spark to the rest of the lineup. George Washington has been aggressive at the plate and it has yielded results, as the Colonials have averaged over 4 runs per game so far. I am happy with the way George Washington's season has gone so far and I am very hopeful that they can keep this pace going.

La Salle: The Explorers were not in action this weekend, but they are currently playing at the Rebel Games.

UMass: Sara Plourde pitched very well in UMass' two games on Friday night, unfortunately she needed to be unhittable. Plourde allowed just one hit in each game she pitched on Friday, but the Minutewomen could not score a single run. Coach Sortino really can't ask for much more from Plourde, including the 25 strikeouts that she recorded. Penn State and UAB are solid teams, but results like this are unacceptable. UMass does not seem to have much confidence at the plate and something needs to give this weekend. If UMass comes away with less than 3 wins (rain permitting) it will be very disappointing. Kyllie Magill is the only UMass player who is even close to matching her performance from last year and the Minutewomen have not been even close to matching the production lost due to graduation. UMass has played an extremely difficult schedule, but that is an excuse than only goes so far.

Rhode Island: The Rams finally scored a win! Rhode Island bounced back after a tough loss to Western Kentucky 11-3 in 5 innings and the Rams beat Drexel 6-5 in 8 innings. Once again Allison Hartzell and Nicole Massoni led the way for the Rams at the plate and in the circle. Some other important developments, included Brittany Julich's return to the lineup and the performances of freshmen Amy Gleason and Jocelyn Mattison. Mattison has been very steady so far this year for URI, but it was nice to see Gleason step in to score some big hits. Other than Hartzell, URI has some issues in the circle, but I am hopeful they can deal with those issues shortly.

St. Bonaventure: The Bonnies had a wonderful vacation in Hawaii, but unfortunately they could not come away with a win. At times, St. Bonaventure was good enough to win, but they could not close the deal. The Bonnies suffered four defeats, including a 1-0 loss to South Dakota State and a 8-3 loss as well. In the circle, Jen Sansano made her debut and she did not disappoint. She had a very solid outing in her first career start and she showed that she has the potential to be something special. She is going to need some help from offense and performances like this past weekend will make it difficult to advance to the A10 tournament. Lindsey Stowell was one of the standouts at the plate for the Bonnies, but they will need the whole lineup to be more productive.

St. Joseph's: The Hawks got the job done for the second weekend in a row going 4-1 against some solid opponents. St. Joe's has some good momentum and they are feeling it right now. Erin Gallagher has found her groove in the circle and with the way she is throwing St. Joe's will be tough to beat. This weekend in Clearwater is another huge opportunity for the Hawks and if they are able to pull off another 4-1 weekend, St. Joseph's may be in the best spot of any A10 team for an at-large bid. We always knew this team could get it done in the circle and in the field, but the most impressive thing about the Hawks has been the way they have hit the ball. Dana Parks has been having a career year for the Hawks starting things off and she is hitting a robust .500 with 8 SB. Monica Aguilar is seeing the ball very well, as evidenced by her impressive BB (7) to SO (2) ratio, but she is also swinging the bat well with 11 RBI so far. If this squad can continue to get it done, we may have a surprise in the A10 this year.

St. Louis: Well the Billikens run finally came to an end with losses to Missouri and UMKC, but they still managed to go 2-2. The loss to Missouri was expected, but I thought St. Louis would have been able to top UMKC. The Billikens continued to hit the ball well and Rachel Faletto was the star at the plate hitting a robust .533 with 8 RBI. Faletto is having a great year at the plate and the Billikens are doing a solid job at the plate. St. Louis needs to hone its pitching and defense though because they are putting enough runs on the board to win games. Hannah Huebbe finally ran into a little trouble this weekend, but the great thing about the St. Louis depth is that they have so much depth in the circle. Kelcie Matesa and Julian Austin did an outstanding job this weekend with Huebbe struggling just a little, but if they are all on their game this is quite the rotation.

Temple: As was expected the Owls ran into some tough teams at the Citrus Classic in Orlando and they were unable to come away with a win. The Owls are doing an okay job at the plate hitting .253 led by freshmen Stephanie Pasquale and Sarah Prezioso. Returnees Kristen Marris and Christina Sykora are also having solid years, but they need more production at the moment due to the fact that they cannot keep runs off the board. Temple's biggest issue right now is all of the walks that they are giving up to opponents. Temple really needs to figure some things out in the circle because all of those walks are going to continue to haunt this squad. Nonetheless, it is evident that this squad improved a lot from last season. These next couple weeks are crucial for the Owls, as they start conference play on the 20th against Dayton.