April 19, 2012
Scouting UMass
• UMass has won a season-best six-consecutive games, 11 of its last 12 and 16 of its last 20. The Minutewomen are 4-0 at home and swept Dayton in their only A-10 home contests. UMass is 7-3 in true road games and 6-0 in A-10 road contests following their doubleheader sweep at George Washington on Sunday.
• The Minutewomen are the hitting .272 as a team, tied for first in the A-10 this year, and boast seven players hitting at .270 or better. Elsewhere in the league UMass is first in on-base pct. (.363), second in batters hit-by-pitch (32), third in slugging pct. (.406) and fourth in RBI (128) and runs (135).
• Leading the charge are the top two in the batting order, junior OF Cyndil Matthew (.410-0-11) and freshman SS Quianna Diaz-Patterson (.343-4-27). QDP also has the longest active hitting streak on the squad at 12 games. Sara Plourde is currently at five games with a home run in each of the past five games.
• Senior All-America Sara Plourde is 21-9 with a 2.14 earned run average and leads the nation in strikeouts for the third-consecutive year with 345. She also has 27 complete games, eight shutouts and six of her 15 career no-hitters this season. She tossed her second-career solo perfect game two weekends ago at SBU and the 13th in school history. She is also hitting .342 with eight HR and 19 RBI since being inserted into the batting order 13 games ago.
Scouting Saint Joseph's
• The Hawks are 16-22 overall and 5-5 in Atlantic 10 play. They are hitting .250 as a team and have three players hitting over .300. SJU has played in six extra-inning games this season, posting a 2-4 mark while also being shutout six times and shutting out their opponents six times.
• SJU ranks first in the A-10 with a 2.11 ERA and have walked just 66 batters in 255.2 innings. Erin Gallagher is 7-11 with a 1.83 ERA, which ranks second in the league behind Fordham's Jen Mineau with a 1.79.
Series With Saint Joseph's
• The teams have played 63 times on the diamond with UMass holding a 56-7 all-time series lead. The series is the fifth-most played in school history. UMass is also 29-1 in Amherst, 23-4 in Philadelphia and 4-2 in neutral sites. The Minutewomen have won ten-consecutive at the UMass Softball Complex dating back to 2004.
• A year ago, the team's split a pair of games in Philly and then split again at the A-10 Tournament in Charlotte. UMass won the first round game 3-1 before SJU claimed a 6-2 win in nine innings in an elimination game a day later.
Scouting Temple
• Temple enters the weekend with a 20-18 overall record and a 5-4 slate in conference games. The Owls will play a doubleheader at Rhode Island on Friday before heading to the Pioneer Valley for a Sunday doubleheader with UMass. Temple is hitting .254 on the year (.293 in league games) and is fifth in the A-10 in on-base pct. at .330. The Owls are second in doubles (50) and first in triples (8).
• Sarah Prezioso leads the team and is tied for eighth in the A-10 in batting with a .329 avg. Ali Robinson has scored 31 runs and Stephanie Pasquale has a league-high 13 doubles.
Series With Temple
• Temple and UMass have faced each other 80 times, which ranks as the third-most played series in UM history. The Minutewomen hold a 65-15 series lead and are 34-5 in games played in Amherst. UMass has won the last eight at the UM Softball Complex dating back to a split in 2005.
And Then There Was One
• Entering the week, UMass is the only unbeaten in Atlantic 10 play at 8-0. UMass is the only school to have completed the regular-season undefeated, having done so eight times in the 29-year history of A-10 softball. The last occurance came two seasons ago with a 17-0-1 mark.
UMass Bat/Ball & Stick/Ball Sports Dominating Conference Play
• While the UMass softball team has a 8-0 mark in Atlantic 10 play thus far, some other spring sports are dominating their league competition as well. Following Sunday's sweep at GW, UMass softball, men's lacrosse (4-0 in CAA), women's lacrosse (6-0 in A-10) and baseball (5-3 in A-10) are a combined 24-3 in conference play.
Matthew Near The Top Of Atlantic 10 Rankings
• UMass junior OF Cyndil Matthew has been on a tear this season. She enters the week leading the A-10 in batting avg. (.410 - 23 points more than second) and runs (32), and second in steals (19) and on-base pct. (.482). She also leads the team with 12 multi-hit games and has collected a career-high four hits against Maryland (3/2) and Chattanooga (3/17) this season.
`Q' Delivers In The Clutch
• There's no denying the impact Quianna Diaz-Patterson has made on the UMass team this season. The freshman from Amherst Regional HS has stepped right in and produced form the get-go. She has started all 30 games at shortstop and currently is tied for or leads the team in RBI (27), doubles (11) and triples (1). Of her 27 RBI, 16 have come with 2 outs.
Plourde Named Top 25 Finalist For USA Softball Player of the Year Award
• Massachusetts senior Sara Plourde was named one of the Top 25 Finalists for the 2012 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year, the Amateur Softball Association (ASA) of America announced Tuesday. The winner will be announced at the opening of the 2012 NCAA Women's College World Series (WCWS) in Oklahoma City.
• Plourde, a two-time All-America selection from Bristol, Conn., currently leads the nation in strikeouts (304), strikeouts per seven innings (12.7) and fewest hits allowed per seven innings (2.88). She has also held opponents to a nation's best .121 batting average in 168.0 innings this season.
Plourde Selected Ninth In National Pro Fastpitch Draft
• UMass senior Sara Plourde was selected ninth overall by the Carolina Diamonds in the 2012 National Pro Fastpitch Draft on March 8.
• National Pro Fastpitch is headquartered in Hermitage, Tenn. The league, created to give elite female fastpitch players the opportunity to pursue a professional career in their chosen sport, has operated since 1997 under the names Women's Pro Fastpitch (WPF) and Women's Pro Softball League (WPSL).
• Due to NCAA regulations, an active college senior-athlete is not eligible to sign with their respective franchise until her 2012 season is completed.
A-10 Game Officials Honor Nick Cinquanto
• The Atlantic 10 Conference softball umpires and women's basketball officials will honor former coordinator and observer Nick Cinquanto by wearing a commemorative black patch during A-10 games this season. Cinquanto passed away Sunday, January 22.
• Cinquanto, who served as the Conference's Coordinator of Soccer and Softball Officials and as a women's basketball officials observer, spent 20 years in various capacities with the Atlantic 10. He began his career with the league evaluating officials in 1988.
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