Saturday Results

Charlotte beat UNC Wilmington 2-0
Charlotte beat Towson 10-0 (6 innings)

Fordham beat Princeton 15-0 (5 innings)
Fordham beat Syracuse 4-3 (8 innings)

George Washington beat Providence 4-0
George Washington lost to Winthrop 2-0

La Salle lost to Nebraska 9-0 (5 innings)
La Salle lost to Central Connecticut State 10-4

UMass beat Colorado State 7-1
UMass beat Wisconsin-Green Bay 7-0

St. Bonaventure beat South Carolina State 6-2
St. Bonaventure lost to ETSU 10-7

St. Joseph's beat Quinnipiac 8-5
St. Joseph's lost to Maryland 4-1 (8 innings)

St. Louis lost to Harvard 2-1 (8 innings)
St. Louis lost to North Dakota 6-0

Temple beat Columbia 9-1 (5 innings)
Temple beat Lafayette 12-2 (5 innings)

Friday Results

Charlotte lost to Cleveland State 2-0 (10 innings)
Charlotte lost to Providence 5-0

George Washington lost to Wright State 12-3 (5 innings)

La Salle lost to Radford 5-2
La Salle lost to Boston University 8-6

UMass beat USF 4-0

UMass beat Toledo 17-0 (5 innings)

St. Bonaventure beat North Carolina A&T 9-1 (5 innings)
St. Bonaventure lost to Pittsburgh 10-1 (5 innings)

St. Joseph's lost to St. John's 3-0 (8 innings)
St. Joseph's lost to Robert Morris 8-3

St. Louis beat North Dakota 1-0
St. Louis lost to UC Riverside 9-2

Temple beat Holy Cross 7-5
Temple lost to Loyola 3-2

Weekend Preview

Charlotte: The 49ers are in the midst of their road swing and this weekend they are headed to nearby Rock Hill, SC to Winthrop University’s Adidas Invitational. The 49ers will be facing Cleveland State, Providence, Towson, and UNC Wilmington this weekend and I think this is a recipe for wins. Cleveland State will be a tough game, but with Katy Hackett in the circle the 49ers can take the Vikings down. The best sign from the 49ers over the past few games is the emergence of Katie Watkins. Watkins was finally able break the 49ers 5 inning curse and that is a very good sign moving forward. Charlotte needs to take it pitch by pitch this weekend, but it may come down to game management.

Dayton: The Flyers will be off this weekend after playing for three straight weekends and they will return to action on Tuesday against IUPUI.

Fordham: The Rams’ schedule finally eases up just a tiny bit this weekend. Fordham heads down to Charlottesville, Virginia to take on the Cavaliers, as well as Syracuse and Princeton. The best team coming into this tournament is the Syracuse Orange. The Orange have built off their finish from last year and they are currently ranked or on the fringes of being ranked in all three polls. Virginia is no slouch either, as the Cavaliers are coming off two 3-2 weekends in a row at the Cathedral City Classic and the Citrus Classic, which is no easy feat. Jen Mineau and Chelsea Plimpton will need to stay on their game against the Cavs and Orange, as I am not expecting many runs to be scored. I am still looking for this offense to awake, but I’m just not sure when it will happen.

George Washington: The Colonials, like the 49ers will also be headed down to Rock Hill, SC for the Adidas Invitational. George Washington will have games against Winthrop, Providence, Gardner-Webb, and Wright State. The Colonials are having a pretty good year so far and they have already matched last year's win total. Kara Clauss has been gritty in the circle and it is clear that her team fights for her. The Colonials unlike some of the other A10 teams have done pretty well in 1-run games and the fight in this team could go a long way for this team, which did not look good last year.

La Salle: The Explorers are in action at Clearwater, FL at the Under Armour Showcase. The Explorers will be up against some tough competition including Radford, Boston University, Nebraska, as well as UConn and Central Connecticut State. This is going to be a tough weekend for La Salle, but I like the fact that Coach Brown is scheduling tough this year. The Explorers have stated how making the A10 tournament this year is one of their goals and scheduling tough games now will get this squad ready for the rigors of A10 play.  La Salle has the ability to keep these games close, but it will come down to the Explorers doing the little things right in these games.

UMass: The Minutewomen are off to their worst start in a long time, currently sitting at 2-10. The good news is that Sara Plourde was back on her game last weekend, allowing just 2 hits in 14 innings with 25 SO. It is unacceptable that the offense could not manage a single run for her. Kyllie Magill is leading UMass at the plate and she is having a solid year, but she needs some help from the rest of the team. I think it starts for UMass with Katie Bettencourt and Meg Carta coming through with some clutch hits behind Magill. The Minutewomen have the talent, but right now they need to find that swagger that has been a staple of past squads. Honestly, right now it doesn’t matter who the opponent is for UMass; it is all about what’s going happening on their side of the field.

Rhode Island: The Rams will take a weekend off after recording their 1^st win of the year. Hopefully they will record many more after this week off.

St. Bonaventure: The Bonnies need to bounce back after a rough 0-4 opening in Hawaii, as they will head down to Johnson City, TN to face East Tennessee State, Pittsburgh, South Carolina State, and North Carolina A&T. St. Bonaventure will have some tough games especially against a solid Pittsburgh team. I am really looking forward towards Jen Sansano’s second weekend of play. She had a solid debut weekend and it will be interesting to see how she builds off that performance, especially now that the scouting report is out on her. The Bonnies will need better plate appearances this weekend and I want to see them put up some runs. (What does St. Bonaventure cheer after a HR…?)

St. Joseph’s: The Hawks continue their stay in Clearwater with another 5 games at the USF Under Armour Showcase. The Hawks will have games against St. John’s, Robert Morris, Quinnipiac, and Ball State, as well as a crucial game against Maryland. That matchup with Maryland could have some serious postseason implications and with the way St. Joe’s is playing I am confident they can take this game. Erin Gallagher has been on her game and if her dropball and changeup are effective she can go toe to toe with just about anyone. The Hawks have some good momentum and my hope is that they can keep it up.

St. Louis: The Billikens are heading west this weekend, all the way to Riverside, California for a weekend tournament, after which they will play a couple games in San Diego. St. Louis is in a very good spot right now with a 12-6 record and if they are able to go at least 5-2 over these 7 games things will be looking very good for this squad. St. Louis will be facing some okay teams, but besides San Diego State they are facing very beatable teams. St. Louis need to avoid walking batters in the circle and committing errors behind the pitchers and if they can do those two things, I believe they will come away with wins.

Temple: Is currently in action at the Rebel Games in Florida and the Owls will continue playing there until Friday. This weekend (including Thursday) the Owls will go up against Holy Cross, Loyola, Lafayette, and Columbia. Loyola will be a tough game, but the other three games are very winnable and dare I say ones that the Owls need to have. Temple needs this week to be a confidence boosting one, especially in the circle. Last weekend was almost a bit overwhelming for Temple, but this weekend is going to set the tone for the rest of the Owls’ year. The pitchers need to command the zone and throw quality innings to avoid putting unnecessary stress on the offense.

Weekday Scoreboard

Monday, March 7th
La Salle lost to Holy Cross 7-2
La Salle lost to Loyola 5-2


Tuesday, March 8th

George Washington beat Hampton 5-4 (8 innings)

George Washington lost to Hampton 4-3
La Salle beat Bryant 1-0
La Salle lost to Yale 8-0 (5 innings)

Temple beat Bryant 3-2

Temple beat Detroit 12-6

Wednesday, March 9th
St. Joseph's beat Central Michigan 2-0
La Salle lost to Robert Morris 8-0 (6 innings)
La Salle lost to South Dakota 6-2
Charlotte beat UNC Greensboro 7-2
Charlotte lost to UNC Greensboro 3-2

Temple lost to Sacred Heart 9-2

Temple lost to Valparaiso 4-0

Thursday, March 10th
*St. Joseph's lost to the Netherlands 5-4 (8 innings)* Exhibition

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.

Sunday Results

Charlotte vs Furman Cancelled
Charlotte vs Furman Cancelled

Dayton lost to Texas Tech 10-0 (5 innings)

Fordham lost to Notre Dame 6-0
Fordham beat UNC 1-0

George Washington vs Army Cancelled


UMass vs Western Kentucky Cancelled

Rhode Island lost to Western Kentucky 8-2

St. Bonaventure lost to Hawaii 8-0 (5 innings)
St. Bonaventure lost to South Dakota State (5 innings)

St. Joseph's beat FIU 3-2

St. Louis beat Missouri State 7-6 (8 innings)
St. Louis lost to UMKC 7-6

Temple beat Maryland 1-0

Saturday Results

Reminder to all A10 softball fans Fordham vs Illinois will be broadcast on ESPN3 at 9:00 AM

Dayton beat Howard 7-1
Dayton lost to Texas Tech 11-0 (5 innings)

Fordham lost to Illinois 4-1
Fordham lost to Alabama 3-1

George Washington beat Army 6-5
George Washington beat Army 6-2

Rained Out
UMass vs UNC Greensboro
UMass vs Kennesaw State


Rhode Island vs Evansville
Rhode Island vs Austin Peay

St. Bonaventure lost to South Dakota State 1-0
St. Bonaventure lost to Weber State 7-2

St. Joseph's beat Wagner 5-0
St. Joseph's beat Toledo 6-5

St. Louis lost to Missouri 12-0 (5 innings)
St. Louis beat SEMO 8-3

Temple lost to Illinois State 12-4 (5 innings)
Temple lost to Louisiana-Lafayette 18-3 (5 innings)

Friday Results

UMass lost to UAB 1-0 (8 innings)
UMass lost to Penn State 1-0

Fordham beat Illinois State 2-1

Dayton beat Howard 10-3
Dayton lost to Texas Tech 8-0 (5 innings)

St. Louis vs Missouri State Postponed

St. Joseph's lost to Jacksonville 2-0 (8 innings)
St. Joseph's beat Bethune-Cookman 2-1

St. Bonaventure vs. Hawaii Postponed

Temple lost to Illinois 12-0 (5 innings)
Temple lost to UNC 8-3

Rhode Island lost to Western Kentucky 11-3 (5 innings)
Rhode Island beat Drexel 6-5 (8 innings)

Bonnies in Hawaii

Since the Bonnies are the last team in the A10 to get underway (currently the Bonnies are one of 20 teams yet to play a game), I decided to give them a preview post of their own for this weekend. St. Bonaventure coach Mike Threehouse has been blogging from Hawaii and they are having a great time.

Not to much is known about this St. Bonaventure squad, but quite a bit is known about the Bonnies' opponents.

#14/16 Hawaii: The Rainbow Wahine are 12-4 on the year, but the four losses have been to some quality opponents (Oregon, Virginia, Syracuse, and Nebraska). Hawaii has also beaten ranked two ranked opponents in Oklahoma and Stanford. Last year, Hawaii was known for its bats, but this year the Wahine's strength appears to be in the circle with Stephanie Ricketts and Kaia Parnaby. They will make it tough for the Bonnies to get anything going on offense. At the plate, Hawaii is still a long ball threat, but the numbers have fallen off significantly. Hawaii is hitting .278 with 25 HR in 16 games. St. Bonaventure may be a little overmatched against Hawaii, but just the experience of going up against a team of this caliber will make the Bonnies better.

Erin Nargi

The other teams the Bonnies will be facing: South Dakota State and Weber State are a combined 0-12 on the year. There are definitely going to be some opportunities for wins out in Hawaii and I will be shocked and frankly, disappointed if they can't come away with at least one win. South Dakota State has been fairly competitive in its losses with two one run losses. The Jackrabbits' problem is that they have been unable to keep people off the board, as they have allowed more than 8 runs in 7 of 9 games this season. Weber State was a little closer in its three losses, but the Wildcats were one of the worst squads in Division 1 last year, as they finished with a 2-48 mark. I am definitely hoping for multiple wins on the weekend for St. Bonaventure, especially with the way other A10 teams have started.

Graham Hays on Fordham and Jen Mineau

Softball writer Graham Hays wrote about the Cathedral City Class in his latest column and included a section on Fordham.

Fordham: There was a time in the not-so-distant past when coming out of the gym in New York City and merely surviving against upper-echelon competition was a success for Fordham. So it says something about the program that a 3-2 record in Cathedral City, including wins against Texas, Cal State Fullerton and Nevada, could be construed as equal parts success and missed opportunity.

"We hope to get her back to 100 percent," Fordham coach Bridget Orchard said. "But it is something, because it is her landing foot, that we're really making sure to pay attention to and that we don't make it anything worse. She's got bone edema on her landing foot, so at any time, if she lands on it hard, it could go."

Jen Mineau

Graham is a great read and all softball fans should read his work 

Midweek Games

Tuesday, March 1st
George Washington beat UMBC 4-2
George Washington lost to UMBC 8-5

Wednesday, March 2nd
Charlotte lost to UNC 4-0
Charlotte lost to UNC 6-2

Stat Leaders: Individual

Individual
BA
1. Dana Parks, SJU .552
2. Chelsea Lenhart, GWU .467
3. Tenaya Tucker, CHA .457
4. Rachel Archer, UD .435

Hits
1. Tenaya Tucker, CHA 21
2. Dana Parks, SJU 16
3. Four tied with 13

HR
1. Tenaya Tucker, CHA 5
2. Briana Gwaltney, CHA 3
2. Kristain Burger, SLU 3
2. Kalie Lang, SLU 3

RBI
1. Tenaya Tucker, CHA 18
2. Briana Gwaltney, CHA 15
3. Kathleen Maloof, UD 12
3. Kalie Lang, CHA 12

SB
1. Dana Parks, SJU 7-8
1. Whitney Williams, CHA 7-11
3. Kristin Nicoletti, SLU 6-6
3. Rachel Archer, UD 6-7

ERA
1. Kara Clauss, GWU 0.84
2. Jen Mineau, FOR 1.63
3. Hannah Huebbe, SLU 1.51
4. Katy Hackett, CHA 1.74

W-L
1. Katy Hackett, CHA 7-3
2. Hannah Huebbe, SLU 5-0
3. Erin Gallagher, SJU 4-2
3. Chelsea Plimpton, FOR 4-5

SO
1. Sara Plourde, UMA 78 SO
2. Katy Hackett, CHA 69 SO
3. Chelsea Plimpton, FOR 48 SO
4. Jen Mineau, FOR 32 SO
4. Allison Hartzell, URI 32 SO

IP
1. Katy Hackett, CHA 68.1
2. Chelsea Plimpton, FOR 59.2
3. Sara Plourde, UMA 50.2
4. Hannah Huebbe, SLU 37.0