University of Massachusets Athletics
Three Softball Players Honored As ECAC All-Stars
June 05, 2001 | Softball
June 5, 2001
CENTERVILLE, Mass. - Three University of Massachusetts softball players were honored as Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) all-stars, it was announced by the league office. Juniors Ashley Bakken (Phoenix, Ariz.) and Cherra "Scooter" Wheeler (Kingsburg, Calif.), as well as sophomore Emily Robustelli (Stamford, Conn.) each earned Division I honors.
Bakken had another solid year both at the plate and on the basepaths for the Minutewomen, and was honored for her performance by being named to the Atlantic 10 all-conference team for the first time. She batted .313 with three doubles and three triples, and stole a team-leading 16 bases in 22 attempts while starting all 57 games at second base. Her 16 steals, which ranked her first in the A-10 this year, now give her 62 in her career, good forthird all-time at UMass.
Wheeler, who was honored as the 2001 Atlantic 10 Player of the Year and and was also selected to the Northeast region second team and A-10 all-tournament team, was the leader of the UMass offense all year, and concluded the season as the team-leader in batting with a .333 average. She also 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 ranks her sixth.
Robustelli, the lead-off hitter and catalyst of the Minutewomen offense, finished the season ranked second on the team in batting with a .330 average. She started all 56 games that she played in at shortstop, and ranked first in the Atlantic 10 in runs scored (41), hits (60) and doubles (14), second in triples (6) and total bases (92), third in slugging percentage (.505) and fifth in on base percentage (.390) 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, and was also selected to the Northeast region second team.
UMass finished the 2001 season at 44-13, good for the second most wins in school history, and made their seventh straight trip to NCAA Regionals.