Scouting UMass · UMass (8-16 Overall, 3-6 A-10) enters the week having won three of its last four games. UMass rode the momentum of a 16-6 win at Yale into the weekend, going 2-1 against George Washington for its first A-10 series win of the season. The Minutewomen are hitting .265 on the year to rank seventh in the A-10. UMass has 23 home runs, 22 doubles and two triples. The team also has 90 RBI and 93 runs. · Senior 2B Quianna Diaz-Patterson has been on a tear this season, leading the league and ranking 3rd in the country with a .521 batting average, 11th nationally in on-base pct. (.588) and 18th in slugging pct. (.915). She is one of just seven players to rank in the top 20 in all three categories. · Senior P Caroline Raymond earned Atlantic 10 Pitcher of the Week and UMass Athlete of the Week honors after going 3-0 with a 1.11 ERA in leading UMass to a 3-1 week. Raymond stuck out 10 and allowed 15 hits and an opponent batting average of .203 over 19 innings. · Freshman SS Gianna Hathaway has hit safely in four of the last five games and has gone 7-for-14 during the stretch with a double, three HRs, six runs and three RBI.
Scouting Fordham · Fordham (18-16, 4-4 A-10) will visit Amherst this weekend having won six of its last nine contests. The Rams are currently in sixth place in the A-10. · Fordham is third in the A-10 with a .294 avg. Ten players have combined to hit 26 home runs, led by Kayla Lombardo, Paige Ortiz, Michelle Daubman and Brianna Turgeon with four each. · Rachel Gillen is the top hitter on the team, posting a .351 batting avg. and 15 RBI. In the circle, she is 12-7 with a 3.14 ERA over a league-high 125.0 innings. Series History vs. Fordham · The Minutewomen are 41-10 all-time against the Rams. · The last time the two teams met was in last year's Atlantic 10 Championship second round where the Rams defeated the Minutewomen 9-1. Fordham swept the regular-season doubleheader, 7-2 and 6-2, in the Bronx also. · The last time the teams met in Amherst, the Minutewomen split a pair of games in which UMass took the first game 9-5 and Fordham took game two 17-11. Strike Out Cancer Coming Saturday · Saturday will be Strike Out Cancer Day with A-10 rival Fordham coming to Sortino Field for a 3-game series, beginning with a doubleheader at Noon Saturday. Special giveaways and prizes will be available throughout the game as the program pays tribute to former head coach Elaine Sortino. · UMass will wear pink jerseys in the game. · Fans wearing anything pink will receive the group admission price of $2.
Preseason Poll · Massachusetts was picked to finish fourth in a vote of the league's 10 head coaches during the preseason polling period. Fordham earned all 10 first place votes and was a unanimous top pick, followed by Saint Louis and Saint Joseph's, ahead of the Minutewomen. Dayton, George Washington, George Mason, La Salle and St. Bonaventure rounded out the poll.
A-10 Championship · For the 10th time in school history, UMass will play host to the Atlantic 10 Championship Tournament, May 6-9 at Sortino Field. The format features six teams in a double-elimination bracket, with the first and second-place teams based on regular-season winning pct. receiving day one byes. · Tickets will cost between $3-$8 per day or you can grab a 4-day tournament pass for $12 (youth) or $24 (adult). Students of Atlantic 10 Conference schools are free to all games with a valid ID. |