University of Massachusets Athletics
UMass Softball Completes 2001 Campaign At NCAA Regionals
May 23, 2001 | Softball
May 23, 2001
AMHERST, Mass. - The University of Massachusetts softball team completed its 2001 season with a 7-1 loss to Washington at NCAA Regional #5 in Norman, Okla. on May 20. The Minutewomen finished the year with a record of 44-13, which was good for the second most wins in school history.
The following are some notes from the 2001 season:
Perfect Regular Season: With its 2-0 win over Rhode Island in its regular season finale, UMass finished the Atlantic 10 Conference regular season at a perfect 21-0. It is the fourth time the Minutewomen have gone through the A-10 regular season slate without a blemish, as they also did it in 1991 (12-0), 1992 (10-0) and 1996 (14-0). It was the 11th straight Atlantic 10 regular season title for the Minutewomen.
Head Coach Elaine Sortino: UMass skipper Elaine Sortino, reached the 700 win plateau this season and currently sports a record of 730-327-3 (.689) in her 22nd season at the helm of the softball program. Sortino collected her 700th win in a 14-6 victory over La Salle on March 24. With that win, Sortino became just the 21st individual in NCAA history to join the "700 Club," and she currently ranks as the 12th-winningest active coach in NCAA Division I based on victories. In addition, her .689 winning percentage ranks 14th-best among active D-I coaches. In her 22 years at UMass, Sortino has never had a losing season and her teams have posted 30-win seasons in 15 of the past 16 years. She has led UMass to each of its 14 Atlantic 10 Conference championships as well as its only three WCWS appearances in 1992, 1997 and 1998. She was also honored this year as the 2001 Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year, her sixth such honor.
The Streak: By virtue of its 4-1 win over Dayton on April 22, UMass tied the school record for consecutive wins with 24. The record had originally been set by the 1979 team. The Minutewomen fell in their next game to Connecticut, 2-1, and failed to break the record. In addition, since a 6-9 start, UMass won 38 of its last 42 games, with two of those losses coming by one run.
Another Atlantic 10 Title: UMass won its seventh straight A-10 Tournament title on May 12 in Dayton, Ohio, defeating Rhode Island in the championship, 5-1. With the win, the Minutewomen secured their seventh consecutive trip to NCAA Regionals. In those seven NCAA appearances, the Minutewomen have compiled a record of 9-11 and have advanced to the Women's College World Series in two of those years (1997, 1998). This year, UMass defeated North Carolina (4-2) and fell to Washington twice (8-0, 7-1).
Wheeler Wins Player Of The Year: Junior Cherra "Scooter" Wheeler (Kingsburg, Calif.) was honored as the 2001 Atlantic 10 Player of the Year, and was also selected to the all-tournament team. Wheeler was the leader of the UMass offense all year, and finished the season first on the team with a .333 average. She led the conference during the season in batting average, RBI (43) and on base percentage (.453), was second in home runs (six) and slugging percentage (.552), and third in doubles (12) while starting every game at third base. In addition, her career mark of 17 home runs ranks her first all-time at UMass, while her 109 career RBI tranks her sixth.
Hadley In The Circle: Junior co-captain Jennifer Hadley (Bristol, Conn.), the 2001 Atlantic 10 Pitcher of the Year, proved to be the ace of the UMass staff this season, as she won 18 of her last 20 starts after beginning the season 1-5. Her overall ERA of 1.48 ranked her third in the A-10 during the season, and she was first in the conference in opposing batting average (.189), wins and strikeouts (130). Included in her 19 wins are two no-hitters (vs. Fordham on April 29, and vs. UConn on May 8), two one-hitters and six shutouts. Hadley was also undefeated in the A-10 at 11-0 this year with a 0.65 ERA in those games, and was selected to the A-10 all-tournament team, after posting a 3-0 record with a 0.35 ERA in three tourney games.
Robustelli Back Near The Top: Sophomore shortstop Emily Robustelli (Stamford, Conn.) steadily improved her production at the plate over the last month of the season, and ended the season ranked second on the team in batting with a .330 average. She started in all 56 games that she played in, and ranked first in the Atlantic 10 in runs scored (40), hits (56) and doubles (14), second in triples (5) and total bases (86), third in slugging percentage (.494) and fifth in on base percentage (.381) and sixth in batting. Robustelli is now a two-time all-conference and all-tournament selection after picking up the two honors again this year. She was also the only UMass player named to the all-regional team at the NCAA Tournament this year.
--UM--