AMHERST, Mass. -
For the fifth-straight year, UMass is hosting an NCAA Softball Regional in Amherst. The Minutewomen (42-8-1) will host No. 13 overall seed Arizona State (41-15), Boston University (34-20), and Long Island (37-16). On Friday, the action begins with the 2008 National Champion Arizona State and America East champ Boston University playing at 5 p.m. Once again, temporary lights will be brought in to the softball complex and the Atlantic 10 champ Minutewomen will play NEC champ Long Island under the lights on Friday at 7:30 p.m.
This is UMass' 16th-straight NCAA Tournament appearance and 20th overall. The Minutewomen have advanced to one Super Regional and three Women's College World Series.
This is the 13th time UMass has hosted an NCAA Regional and fifth-straight. The Minutewomen are 25-19 in NCAA games they have hosted. Last season, UMass went 3-2, with wins over Cornell and Sacred Heart, and a record of 1-2 against top-seed Washington. The Minutewomen dropped their second round game against the Huskies, but in the Regional Finals won game one and went 15 innings with the eventual national champs before falling in an epic second game.
UMass clinched the Atlantic 10's automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament by winning the conference championship, held last week at the UMass Softball Complex. After winning their opening game over Saint Joseph's, the top-seeded Minutewomen fell to Fordham, 7-5, but after a 9-4 victory over Charlotte put UMass in the finals, the home team took two games from the second-seeded Rams, 3-0 and 8-3, on Sunday to win the program's sixth A-10 title in a row and 22nd overall.
Katie Bettencourt and Sara Plourde headline eight UMass All-Conference team selections. The sophomores were named A-10 Co-Player of the Year and Pitcher of the Year, respectively. They joined Meghan Carta, Carly Normandin, and Sarah Reeves on the All-Conference first team.
Sophomore pitcher Sara Plourde has rewritten the UMass record books in 2010, setting single-season records in strikeouts and wins. She comes into the week leading the nation in strikeouts (545). That and her 40 wins on the season passed the records of two UMass legends, Danielle Henderson and Brandice Balschmiter.
The 8-3 A-10 Championship victory over Fordham was the 1,100th win of Head Coach Elaine Sortino's career. She is in her 31st season with a career record of 1,100-449-6 (.709). She ranks sixth among active Division I coaches in wins.
THIS WEEKEND'S SCHEDULE
On Friday, the action begins with the 2008 National Champion Arizona State and Boston University playing at 5 p.m. Once again, temporary lights will be brought in to the softball complex and the Minutewomen will play Long Island under the lights on Friday at 7:30 p.m.
The winners of games one and two will meet in a 2:30 p.m. game three match-up on Saturday. The games one and two losers will play at 5 p.m. Saturday in game four. The third and final game of the day will take place at 7:30 p.m. with the game three loser and game four winner meeting in a game five elimination game.
The two remaining teams will meet in the regional final on Sunday at 5 p.m., with a 7:30 game if necessary.
Every game will be webcast live and free of charge. Watch links can be found on UMassAthletics.com and on the Tournament Central page.
A-10 CHAMPS AGAIN!
Behind an unprecedented display of power at the plate, UMass slugged its way to the program's sixth-straight Atlantic 10 Championship and 22nd overall last weekend at the UMass Softball Complex. The Minutewomen set a tournament record by hitting 12 home runs while batting .318 and going 4-1.
For the first time since 2002, UMass won the conference crown by working through the losers' bracket. After a 3-0 win over Saint Joe's in the opener, the top-seeded Minutewomen fell in the second round, 7-5, to Fordham. The Minutewomen defeated Charlotte, 9-4, to earn a trip to Saturday's final, where the Minutewomen beat Fordham 3-0 to force a second game and won that contest, 8-3, to win their 15th A-10 title in the last 16 years.
Sarah Reeves was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. The senior first baseman hit .533 and set A-10 Championship records with five home runs and 10 RBIs. She was joined on the All-Championship Team by Kyllie Magill, Carly Normandin, Sara Plourde, and Jessica Serio.
BACK IN THE NCAAS
UMass is 29-40 (.420) all-time in NCAA Tournament games. Last season, UMass was 3-2, defeating Cornell before falling to Washington. After beating Sacred Heart to reach the regional final, UMass defeated Washington, 5-1, and then fell to the eventual national champs, 6-1, in a 15-inning, five-hour epic.
In 2008, the Minutewomen went also 3-2, defeating Princeton, losing to Stanford, then beating Lehigh, and Stanford, before dropping another game to Stanford in the Amherst Regional.
This is UMass' 20th overall NCAA Tournament appearance and 16th in a row. The Minutewomen made a Super Regional appearance in 2006 and advanced to the Women's College World Series three times (1992, 1997, 1998).
VS. OPPONENTS
The Minutewomen have faced all three teams visiting Amherst within that past two seasons, going 4-0 against them. The Minutewomen faced Boston University twice this season and last year played both Arizona State and Long Island.
UMass is a perfect 8-0 all-time against its first round opponent, Long Island. The Minutewomen and Blackbirds met last season on Feb. 7 in Boca Raton, Fla. Brandice Balschmiter threw a shutout in the circle, while Michelle Libby and Whitney Mollica pounded out three hits apiece to lead UMass to a 8-0 victory.
UMass is 2-10 all-time against Arizona State, but one of those two wins came last season. Brandice Balschmiter was dominant in the circle and the bottom of the order provided all the offense that was needed as UMass shut out the defending national champion, 1-0, in the final game of the Cathedral City Classic on Feb. 22, 2009. In the fourth inning, No. 8 batter Hernandez delivered a one-out double down the left field line to set up No. 9 batter Kyllie Magill's single to left that scored Hernandez with the game's only run. Balschmiter carried a no-hitter into the seventh before allowing two singles.
UMass is 10-2 all-time against Boston University, including two wins this season. On April 7 in the home-opener at the UMass Softball Complex, Sara Plourde struck out 15 batters in a two-hit shutout performance and Kyllie Magill slammed a two-run home run to lead UMass to a 3-0 victory. Magill finished the day 3-for-3 and Sarah Reeves added a RBI single. On April 13 in Boston, Sarah Reeves hit two home runs and Michelle Libby blasted a three-run homer to lead the Minutewomen to a 7-5 victory.Meghan Carta added a home run in a game that featured six total round-trippers. April Setterlund hit a grand slam for the Terriers.
KEY PLAYERS
Arizona State: Hitter to Watch: Katelyn Boyd - The sophomore shortstop has been the Sun Devils top hitter all season, batting .403 with 15 home runs and 47 RBIs, all tops on the club. She has also walked a team-high 45 times, giving her a .543 on-base percentage and has swiped 26 bases. In the Circle: Hillary Bach - Another super sophomore, Bach is 23-7 on the season with a 2.34 ERA. The 6-2 right-hander has struck out 114 batters in 191 2/3 innings and the opposition hits .241 against her.
Long Island: Hitter to Watch: Bianca Mejia - The junior shortstop leads the Blackbirds in batting average (.400) and home runs (11) while coming in second in RBIs (31). After playing her freshman season at Michigan State, Mejia transferred to LIU and has been named first team All-NEC the last two seasons and garnered conference Player of the Year honors this year. In the Circle: Blaire Porter - The senior hurler was named the NEC Pitcher of the Year for the third year in a row last week. She is 27-7 on the season with a 1.63 ERA. She has struck out 159 batters in 218 2/3 innings and opponents are hitting .220 off her. The 5-7 right-hander has tossed 29 complete games and seven shutouts.
Boston University: Hitter to Watch: April Setterlund - One of the nation's top hitters all season, the junior outfielder is batting .497 on the season with 12 homers and 51 RBIs. She ranks fifth in the country in batting average, third in on-base pct. (.596), and seventh in slugging (.897). After going 1-for-3 with a single and a K in her first meeting against UMass and Sara Plourde, she slugged a grand slam in the second meeting. In the Circle: Cassidi Hardy - While Stterlund took home America East Player of the Year honors, Hardy won Pitcher of the Year honors, going 20-8 with a 1.70 ERA. The 5-9 righty has fanned 251 batters in 188 2/3 innings. The America East Tourney MVP, Hardy struck out 34 batters in 27 innings and allowed just three runs.
ALL-CONFERENCE TEAMS ANNOUNCED
The Atlantic 10 Conference released its All-Conference and season awards on May 11, with UMass sophomore outfielder Katie Bettencourt being named Co-Player of the Year with Fordham's Beckah Wiggins and fellow sophomore Sara Plourde being named Pitcher of the Year. Five Minutewomen were named to the All-Conference first team and one each to the second team, All-Rookie, and All-Academic teams.
Bettencourt, Plourde, catcher Meghan Carta, outfielder Carly Normandin, and first baseman Sarah Reeves were all named to the All-Conference first team. Second baseman Kyllie Magill was named second team All-Conference as well as to the All-Conference Academic Team. Freshman third baseman Teea Rogers was named to the All-Rookie Team.
Bettencourt is the 14th UMass player to earn A-10 Player of the Year honors and second in a row after Normandin last season. Plourde is the 16th UMass pitcher to be named A-10 Pitcher of the Year and the fifth-straight year UMass won the award after Brandice Balschmiter won the previous four years.
HOME COOKIN'
The Minutewomen have a 190-17-1 record at the UMass Softball Complex, which opened in 2000, for a .916 winning percentage.
In the Atlantic 10, UMass dominates, holding a 99-5 (.952) regular season record at home. In the 13 A-10 Tournament games hosted in Amherst, 11 have gone in UMass' win column.
UMass' offense explodes at home, as the Minutewomen boast a .334 batting average coming into the year at the UM Softball Complex, while holding their opponents to a .162 batting average.
In 2010, UMass is 17-1, batting .309 at home and averaging 5.56 runs/game. The Minutewomen have held the opposition to a .153 average and 1.39 runs/game.
UMass had a 54-game regular season home winning streak that went from April 9, 2006 to May 3, 2009. In 2010, UMass is a perfect 13-0 at home this season.
UMASS IN THE NATIONAL POLLS
In the USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 Poll, UMass ranks No. 21. The Minutewomen held their spot this week in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Poll at No. 23.
UMass' highest ranking of the season came on Feb. 16 when it ranked No. 18 in the USA Today/NFCA poll fter going 4-1 on the opening weekend of the season in Miami.
The Minutewomen opened the season ranked in both major national preseason polls. UMass ranked No. 20 in the USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 Preseason Poll, while ranking No. 25 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Preseason Poll. UMass was the only team from the northeast ranked to start the season.
UMass finished the 2009 season ranked No. 14 in both polls.
ABOVE THE NORM
Carly Normandin, now in her senior season and serving as co-captain, is leading the team and the Atlantic 10 with a .405 batting average (53-131). She has been red-hot as of late, batting .464 and slugging .786 in the last 10 games.
She has been named Atlantic 10 All-Conference First Team and was named to the All-Championship Team. Normandin was also on the initial "Watch List" for the 9th Annual USA Softball National Collegiate Player of the Year Award.
Normandin hit her first home run of the season, a grand slam at La Salle on April 1.
Returning to hitting fulltime at the USF Under Armour Invitational (3/5-7), Normandin picked right up where she left off last season, batting .500 (8-16) in her return from a back injury. She had just one at-bat on the season prior to that and had started three games in center field, but was DPed for.
Normandin entered her senior season in 2010 looking to finish her career with a bang. Showing drastic improvement each season, she reached new heights last year by being named Atlantic 10 Player of the Year and NFCA All-American Third Team, while repeating as an All-Region First Team selection. She joined teammate Brandice Balschmiter as the first UMass NFCA All-Americans since Emily Robustelli in 2003. It was the first time UMass had multiple All-Americans since Kim Gutridge and Danielle Henderson in 1998. Normandin was UMass' first outfield All-American since Sally Maher in 1986.
In 2009, she finished with a .403 batting average, the highest by a UMass player since Gutridge's .404 mark in 1998, and had a 23-game hitting streak. She did it all for the Minutewomen offensively, hitting 17 doubles, five triples, 10 home runs, 37 RBI, 53 runs, 21 stolen bases, and a.727 slugging percentage, all while playing stellar defense in center field. The Gardner, Mass. native led the Atlantic 10 in average, slugging, hits (71), runs, doubles, and total bases (128). She ranked in the top-20 nationally in doubles (13th), triples (17th), and runs (17th).
PLOURDE-ING IT ON
Sophomore Sara Plourde has established herself as one of the country's best pitchers, posting a 40-6 record with a 1.19 ERA. She leads the country in strikeouts with 545, the ninth-highest total in NCAA history. On May 5, she struck out the first three batters of the game vs. Boston College to break Danielle Henderson's UMass single-season strikeout record of 465 (1999). On May 8, she won her 35th game of the season, breaking Brandice Balschmiter's school-record for victories in a season, set in 2009, and her 36 wins on the season also leads the country.
Plourde has thrown five no-hitters this season, one a perfect game. She tossed her first of the year on Feb. 27 in a 1-0 win over Illinois State, striking out 18. Plourde was part of two no-hitters, one a perfect game, in UMass' A-10 opening sweep of George Washington (3/28). She retired every batter in four innings in game one, combining with Bailey Sanders for the 11th perfect game in school history. In game two, she walked the first batter and retired every batter the rest of the way for the no-hitter. Her fourth no-hitter of the season came at home on April 9, striking out 13 and walking one in a 3-0 win over previously A-10 unbeaten Charlotte. The most recent was April 20 when she fanned eight and walked two in a 6-0 win vs. Quinnipiac.
Last week, Plourde was named Atlantic 10 Pitcher of the Year, the fifth straight time and 16th overall that a UMass Pitcher has won the award. She was also named to the All-Conference First Team and All-Championship Team. Plourde has been named A-10 Pitcher of the Week six times this season and was named UMass Athlete of the Week four times.
At Boston College on April 6, Plourde struck out 20 out of the 23 batters she faced, setting a UMass record for strikeouts in a seven-inning game, breaking the old mark of 18, accomplished three times by Danielle Henderson and once by Plourde.
The sophomore struck out a school-record 22 batters in a nine-inning 1-0 loss to No. 22 Texas A&M (3/20). Plourde held the Aggies hitless through 8 2/3 innings, allowing a single with two outs in the ninth that drove in a runner from second with the International Tiebreaker rule in use. It is tied for the most strikeouts in a nine-inning game in NCAA history.
The Bristol, Conn. native threw a no-hitter in her second career start, retiring 18 in a row after hitting the first batter of the game and striking out nine at Dayton on March 22, 2009. She was named to the A-10 All-Rookie Team in 2009 after going 6-1 with a 1.83 ERA.
REEVES BRINGS THE POWER
For the third year in a row, Sarah Reeves is helping anchor the middle of the UMass lineup. The senior first baseman, who smacked 10 home runs each of the last two seasons, has set career-highs in 2010 with 13 homers and 41 RBIs to go with a .356 batting average. She hit .533 with a tourney-record 5 home runs and 10 RBIs in the A-10 Championship and was named Most Outstanding Player.
Reeves was named Atlantic 10 All-Conference First Team and All-Championship for third year in a row in 2010.
Reeves has been an even tougher out down the stretch, batting .491 (28-57) with nine home runs, 20 RBIs, and a 1.158 slugging percentage over the last 20 games.
She sits second in career home runs at UMass with 33, passing Samantha Salato last week and trails only KJ Kelley's 41.
The Elkton, Md. native tied a school record with five hits, going 5-for-5 in game one of a twinbill at GW (3/28) and then hit a grand slam in game two, giving her seven RBIs on the day.
Reeves got her 2010 season off to an incredible start by batting .571 (8-14) with four doubles, a home run, four RBIs, and a 1.071 slugging percentage. She was named the Atlantic 10's first Player of the Week of the season on Feb. 15.
She has started 157 straight games at first base, committing just six errors in over 900 chances.
LIBBY MOVES TO GREENER PASTURES
Senior Michelle Libby, after serving mostly as a DP and reserve third baseman last season, makes the move to the outfield in 2010, where she playing a prominent role. She is third on the club in home runs with 10, while hitting .305 with 29 RBIs. The Porter, Maine native has started all 51 games, 44 in left field, five at third base, and two at DP.
2010 got off to a great start for Libby at the FIU Combat Classic (2/12-14), batting .533 (8-15) with two home runs and six RBI.
Libby enjoyed a breakout year in 2009, finishing fourth on the team in batting average at .314. She had nine doubles, three home runs, and 18 RBI. A fundamental team player, she also was tied for the team lead in sacrifice bunts with seven (Mollica). All of this came after having just one hit in 23 career at-bats the previous two seasons.
CARTA CATCHES ATTENTION
Junior Meghan Carta has started at catcher in every game for UMass this season and, besides providing great defense behind the dish, has provided a huge boost to the offense. After starting just eight games and recording 28 at-bats in her first two seasons, the Middletown, Conn. native is batting .299 on the season and is tied for the team-lead in home runs with 13 and leads in RBIs with 43. Those totals are also tops in the conference among catchers. She has also dropped down five sacrifice bunts, second on the club.
Her two-run home run in the sixth inning broke a 1-1 tie and led UMass to a 3-1 win vs. Boston College on May 5.
She had the first two-home run game of her career on April 16 at UConn when she hit a grand slam to go along with a two-run shot for a six-RBI day.
Carta had her second two homer day of the season on April 1, blasting a round-tripper in each end of a doubleheader sweep at La Salle.
Carta hit the first two home runs of her career on the same day, Mar. 6, one each in wins over Virginia Tech and USF.
BETTENCOURT BREAKS OUT
Sophomore Katie Bettencourt, after seeing just seven at-bats as a freshman, has had an amazing sophomore campaign, starting every game in right field and being named Atlantic 10 Co-Player of the Year. She sports a .340 (50-147) batting average, 11 doubles, seven home runs, and driven in 30 runs.
She led the A-10 in batting in conference play at .500 (25-50), with five home runs and 20 RBIs in 18 games.
Bettencourt was named A-10 Player of the Week on April 12 after batting .500 with two home runs in a 4-0 week and won the award again on May 3 after batting .692 with seven RBIs in another 4-0 week.
One of the highlight's of Bettencourt's season was on Feb. 12 when she hit the first home run of her career, which ended up being the only run scored in UMass' 1-0 win over NC State in Miami.
The first hit of the Salem, N.H. native's career came on the biggest stage she has played on, singling off National Player of the Year Danielle Lawrie in a pinch-hitting appearance against Washington in the 11th inning of the Minutewomen and Huskies' epic 15-inning battle in the 2009 NCAA Amherst Regional Final.
SORTINO ASCENDS ACTIVE WIN LIST
Elaine Sortino has made her name synonymous with UMass Softball in her 30-plus seasons as head coach. By consistently leading a Northeast school to national prominence, she has garnered the respect of the entire softball community. In 2004, Sortino was inducted into the National Fastpitch Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
Sortino has a career record of 1,100-449-6 (.709). She currently ranks sixth in active Division I victories, passing South Carolina's Joyce Compton last season.
In 2009, Sortino was named A-10 Coach of the Year for the 10th time, second-most in conference history in any sport. The coach she trails - UMass men's swimming coach Russ Yarworth, also in his 31st season, just won his 11th award on Feb. 20.
In 2009, Sortino and her assistants, Jessica Merchanet and Kristi Stefanoni, were named Speedline/NFCA Northeast Region Coaching Staff of the Year. It was the sixth time Sortino's staff has won the award.
In 2008, she earned her 1,000th win on April 13 against the Temple Owls and went on to finish that season with 1,017 total wins.
