University of Massachusets Athletics
Softball Sweeps A-10 Weekly Awards
March 13, 2006 | Softball
March 13, 2006
AMHERST, Mass. -- Massachusetts swept the weekly Atlantic 10 softball weekly awards the league office announced Monday afternoon. Junior Amanda Acampora (Orange, Conn.) was named Player of the Week, freshman Brandice Balschmiter (Newark, N.Y.) was tabbed the Pitcher of the Week while freshman Whitney Mollica (Windham, N.H.) was selected as the Co-Rookie of the Week. This is already the third honor for Balschmiter as either the Pitcher of the Week (twice) or Rookie of the Week while Mollica is receiving her second award. The trio are being honored for their performances this past weekend at the USF-adidas Spring Break Invitational. The Minutewomen (7-8) finished second out of 24 teams and each of those players were selected to the All-Tournament team.
Acampora receives her first-ever A-10 honor after leading the team with a .417 batting average last week. She was 10for-24 at the plate with two doubles, two home runs, three runs scored and six RBI. Acampora also compiled a .750 slugging percentage and a .462 on-base percentage. In an 11-1 UMass win over Purdue (3/9), Acampora was 2-for-3 with a home run. Later that day, she helped UMass to an 11-8 come-from-behind win over Villanova by going 3-for-3 with a home run and three RBI. Acampora also had a 2-for-4 day with a double and two RBI in UMass' 6-0 win over Jacksonville (3/11) helping head coach Elaine Sortino win career game No. 900.
Balschmiter picks up her third award in as many weeks by dominating in the circle all weekend. She had a hand in every UMass win on the weekend by going 5-0 with a save. Balschmiter compiled a miniscule 0.33 ERA. She allowed just two earned runs on 20 hits and 12 walks while recoding 25 strikeouts in 43.0 innings pitched. She threw a three-hitter against Jacksonville (3/11) for her first career shutout. Against Georgia Tech (3/12), a team batting .345 collectively and having eight of its nine starters over .300, Balschmiter had a no-hitter for 5.2 innings. She settled for a two-hitter. She pitched all 10 innings of a wild 3-2 come-from-behind win over Chattanooga (3/11) in the first game of bracket play. Balschmiter's first career save came against Villanova (3/9), while her other wins were against Purdue (3/9) and Tennessee Tech (3/10).
Mollica picks up her second Rookie of the Week award after batting .360 (9-for-25) this past weekend to continue the torrid start to her collegiate career. She had five runs scored, three doubles, a home run and seven RBI. Mollica tallied a .600 slugging percentage and a .385 on-base percentage on the weekend. She went 2-for-4 with a double, a home run (the first of her career) and a career-best five RBI against Villanova (3/9). She also went 2-for-3 with a double and a RBI in games against Tennessee Tech (3/10) and Jacksonville (3/11). Mollica shared Rookie of the Week honors with Brittany Cantrell of Charlotte.
Massachusetts (7-8) will return to the Sunshine State this weekend to participate in the Florida Atlantic Parent's Weekend Tournament in Boca Raton, Fla. UMass will face No. 25 North Carolina (4:00 p.m.) and Florida Atlantic (8:00 p.m.) on Friday, March 17 as well as Tennessee-Chattanooga (11:00 a.m.) and Michigan State (1:00 p.m.) on Saturday, March 18. Championship round games will be on Sunday. All games from this tournament will be broadcast live online for free at www.umassathletics.com. Live stats will also be available at www.umassathletics.con through Gametracker.