University of Massachusets Athletics
Softball Sweeps A-10 Regular Season Awards
May 10, 2006 | Softball
May 10, 2006
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - Massachusetts swept the annual Atlantic 10 postseason awards announced today by the league office. In voting conducted by the league's coaches, freshman Whitney Mollica (Windham, N.H.) was named the Player and Rookie of the year, marking the first time that this has ever happened. Freshman Brandice Balschmiter (Newark, N.Y.) was also selected the Pitcher of the Year. Joining Balschmiter and Mollica on the all-conference first team were senior KJ Kelley (Rainier, Ore.) and juniors Amanda Morin (Worcester, Mass.) and Candice Molinari (Glendora, Calif.). Sophomore Lauren Proctor (La Jolla, Calif.) was a second-team All-Conference pick, while she and Molinari were both named to the Academic All-Conference team. Mollica and Balschmiter were each All-Rookie teams picks as well.
Balschmiter began her career with a stellar freshman season. She led the league in most categories including wins, ERA, strikeouts, innings pitched and opponent's batting average. Balschmiter finished the regular season with a 25-7 record, the 10th most wins in the nation. She was third in the nation in ERA (0.67), while also racking up 246 strikeouts and a .139 opponent's batting average. Balschmiter has allowed just six earned runs in her last 117.2 innings pitched and tallied 10 shutouts this season. She went over the 10-strikeout mark seven times including 13 twice. Once was in a 4-0 upset win of #24/25 North Carolina March 17. The other time was in five innings March 31 at La Salle. The 13 k's broke the UMass five-inning strikeout record of 12 previously held by Danielle Henderson on April 13, 1997, against Virginia Tech. Balschmiter was an eight-time Pitcher of the Week and also picked up two Rookie of the Week nods. Balschmiter has found her way to the middle of nearly every single-season record. She is fourth in appearances (40), fourth in complete games (29), fifth in innings pitched (228.1), fourth in strikeouts (246) and tied for third in wins (25).
Kelley becomes just the fourth UMass player to be a four-time All-Conference selection joining Carol Frattaroli (`87), Holly Aprile (`92) and Danielle Henderson (`99). Kelley, who is already the UMass all-time home run leader (40), needs just two more RBI to hold the school record for that as well. She has 147, one behind Scooter Wheeler's record of 148. This season, Kelley is 12th in the A-10 with a .351 batting average. She has 47 hits, nine doubles, five home runs, 37 RBI (sixth in A-10), 71 total bases, a .530 slugging percentage and a .451 on-base percentage. Behind the plate, Kelley has thrown out 29 percent of would-be base stealers and leads the league with 10 pick-offs. Kelley, who was recently named the UMass Senior Athlete of the Year, ranks 10th all-time at UMass in batting average (.335), first in home runs (40), second in RBI (147), fourth in extra-base hits (73), first in walks (106) and third in slugging percentage (.619).
Mollica enjoyed one of the best freshman seasons in UMass history. She finished the regular season with a .419 average (first in A-10 and 22nd nationally), a .784 slugging percentage (first in A-10 and 16th nationally), a .479 on-base percentage (second in A-10), 35 runs scored (tied for eighth in A-10), 62 hits (fifth in A-10), 58 RBI (first in A-10 and fourth in nation), 16 doubles (first in A-10 and 18th nationally), four triples (tied for third in A-10), 10 home runs (second in A-10), 116 total bases (first in A-10) and was also 6-for-7 in stolen base attempts. Mollica's 58 RBI are a UMass and A-10 single-season record, while her 10 home runs are the most every by a UMass freshman. Mollica has team-highs of 19 multi-hit and 18 multi-RBI games and enjoyed a 13-game hitting streak during the season, the second-highest by a UMass player this year. She had a team-high 27 two-out RBI while batting .507 (38-75) with runners in scoring position and .456 (47-103) with runners on base. On the UMass single-season charts, Mollica ranks fifth in batting average (.419), tied for fifth in doubles (16), fifth in home runs (10), first in RBI (58), second in extra-base hits (30), second in slugging percentage (.784) and tied for fourth in on-base percentage (.479). Mollica is a seven-time Rookie of the Week and two-time Player of the Week selection.
Molinari also enjoyed a career year en route to her first all-conference selection. She entered this season as a career .280 hitter, but has raised that nearly 100 points to .373, good for ninth in the A-10. She also has 45 runs scored (second in A-10 and 18th nationally), 56 hits tied for eighth in A-10), eight doubles (had just one in her career coming into this season), three triples (tied for seventh in A-10), 16 RBI, 70 total bases, a .467 slugging percentage, a .440 on-base percentage and is 23-for-25 in stolen base attempts (first in A-10 and 27th nationally). Molinari recently had her career-high, 20-game hitting streak snapped, but has still hit safely in 21 of her last 23 games at a .507 clip. Dating back to her freshman year (2004), Molinari has successfully stolen 72 of her last 75 bases. Each of her three stolen base tallies thus far have ranked in the school's top 10 and she ranks third all-time at UMass with 75 stolen bases. Molinari also ranks ninth all-time at UMass with 105 stolen bases. On the single-season charts, Molinari is fifth in runs scored this year with 45. She had 15 multi-hit games and led the team with a .457 batting average with two outs and also reached base 53 percent of the time when leading off an inning. Molinari hit .444 with runners in scoring position and successfully advanced runners 64 percent of the time.
Morin earns her first all-conference nod after a career year. She came into the season a career .284 hitter, but is second on the team, third in the A-10 and 42nd nationally with a .406 batting average. She is also third in the league and 23rd in the country with 44 runs scored. Morin is tied for fifth in the A-10 with a .451 on-base percentage, second with 65 hits, tied for ninth with 10 doubles, ninth with 82 total bases and tied for sixth with 11 stolen bases. Morin also has a .513 slugging percentage and is the 24th toughest batter to strike out in the nation. Since moving to the leadoff spot, two months ago, Morin has batted .440 with 37 runs scored in 33 games. She has a .492 on-base percentage in that span. Morin is second on the team with 18 multi-hit games, and has recorded at least one knock in all but nine games this season. Her batting average this season is tied for the sixth-highest in a UMass single season, while her 44 runs are sixth-best so far. Her season tallies in hits and on-base percentage also rank ninth and tied for eighth on the school's all-time single-season charts. Morin posted 18 multi-hit games and reached base almost 60 percent of the time when leading off an inning.
Proctor earns her first all-conference selection after finishing third on the team and sixth in the A-10 with a .394 batting average. Proctor also had 28 runs scored, 56 hits (tied for eighth in the A-10), nine doubles, a triple, 17 RBI, 67 total bases, a .472 slugging percentage, .449 on-base percentage (seventh in the A-10) and was also 8-for-9 in stolen bases. She committed just one error in the field, while also posting 15 multi-hit games. Proctor takes a nine-game hitting streak into the A-10 Tournament this weekend and has been batting .630 during it.
UMass is in Philadelphia preparing for the 2006 A-10 Tournament. The Minutewomen, who shared the regular season title with Charlotte, are the second seed and will play Fordham at 2:00 p.m. Thursday in the first round. UMass is looking for its 18th tournament title and 12th straight trip to the NCAA Tournament. All games from this weekend's tournament will be broadcast live on www.umassathletics.com. Live stats will also be available at www.umassathletics.com via Gametracker.
