The Massachusetts softball team now stands alone atop the Atlantic 10 standings.

Coupled with Fordham’s sweep over St. Louis, UMass’ weekend sweep over Charlotte leaves the Minutewomen as the only remaining team with a perfect record in A-10 play.

UMass’ win (25-7, 8-0 A-10) was led over the weekend by pitcher Sara Plourde, who recorded a no-hitter in Friday’s 3-0 win and then won her 24th game of the season in a 5-1 victory on Saturday.

“It’s hard for a pitcher to come back and face a pitcher back-to-back, but Sara did a nice job,” UMass coach Elaine Sortino said after Saturday’s win.

Plourde had a no-hitter through three innings against the 49ers (25-10, 4-2 A-10), until Kendra McCall roped a single into right field. McCall ended the day with two of Charlotte’s three hits on the day, and was the only Charlotte batter to not become a strikeout victim of Plourde on the weekend.

McCall was later stranded at second base as Plourde struck out the side in the inning for three of her 17 strikeouts on the day.

The 49ers took advantage of a few Minutewomen defensive miscues in the sixth inning to score their only run of the weekend. After Lindsey Holloman doubled to start the inning, McCall recorded her second hit of the day on a bunt single that slipped past the grasp of third baseman Teea Rodgers and shortstop Whitney Williams.

“The bunt was okay, but we chased our glove instead of going through the ball,” Sortino said. “The wind took the [double to the wall]. The first thing is I thought we were too close, basically the pitch hit her bat and the ball goes to the wall. You’re in the winds’ alley because it’s right down the lane.”

The bunt advanced Carol Buchan, who pinch ran for Holloman to third base, and she later scored on a bloop hit that Williams appeared to lose in the sun.

“I don’t know what happened to Whitney, she must have lost the ball in the sun or something,” Sortino said. “Characteristically, we’re better on the short game than on that play.”

Offensively, the Minutewomen had a stronger day at the plate on Saturday, knocking in five runs on six hits compared to three runs on four hits on Friday. UMass also saw a number of batters reach on Charlotte’s three errors in the game.

The damage came against both Katy Hackett (three earned runs on four hits and three walks with two strikeouts) and Emily Jeffery (one earned run on two hits and three walks with five strikeouts) as the two each pitched three innings.

UMass first got on the board with three runs in the third inning. After a Michelle Libby single – who was later pinch ran for by Jordan Storro – and a Carly Normandin walk, Storro would score on a sacrifice fly by Kyllie Magill. Katie Bettencourt drew a walk in the next at-bat and then Meghan Carta hit a two-run double, increasing the score to 3-0.

“I thought we did much better at the plate,” Sortino said of the offense. “I thought we had much better at-bats, I thought we looked much more focused and I thought we had a better demeanor, intent. I thought we took better cuts and I think we had a better plan in our head. I think yesterday we lacked a lot of focus.”

In the fifth inning, Magill scored on a Sarah Reeves RBI single. Magill later drove in UMass’ fifth run of the game in the sixth inning when a grounder she hit to first base made its way through Briana Gwaitney’s legs.

Plourde was her usual self as she threw her fourth complete game no-hitter of the season in Friday’s victory, but the sophomore had to share the spotlight in the 3-0 victory.

With Plourde and her counterpart Jeffery both holding onto no-hitters through the first three innings – Plourde was perfect until she walked the leadoff hitter of the sixth inning – it was sophomore Bettencourt who got the first hit of the game.

With one out in the bottom of the fourth inning, Bettencourt roped a 3-1 pitch over the 49ers shortstops glove for a stand up double. The hit broke up the bid for a no-hitter for Jeffery, who finished the game giving up four hits and two earned runs in six innings pitched while striking out seven.

After Bettencourt advanced to third base on a passed ball, Carta was the next Minutewomen to get to Jeffery. With a double to left center field, Carta drove in Bettencourt for her 17th RBI of the season.

“Timely hitting is what it is all about,” Sortino said after Friday’s contest. “We had some other opportunities and came up a little bit short.”

Bettencourt got to Jeffery again in the sixth as No. 22 UMass looked for some insurance with only a 1-0 lead. After Magill reached after Gwaitney let a ground ball slip through her legs, Bettencourt battled back from a 0-2 count.

After evening the count at 2-2, Bettencourt hit her fifth home run of the season, taking Jeffery pitch to straight away center field.

“Well yesterday we worked really hard at being on time and getting your foot down and being in a good attacking position,” Bettencourt said following Friday’s win. “So today I was just trying to get there early and that allowed me to see the ball a lot better and I just took a good hack on a good pitch.”

While Bettencourt gave Jeffery trouble, Plourde gave the 49ers lineup headaches as she cruised through seven innings without giving up just one walk and striking out 13 of the 22 batters she faced.

Plourde started out by striking out eight of the first nine batters of the game, including striking out the side in the second and third innings. The sophomore also struck out the side in the sixth after giving up a lead off walk to Lorena Vela.

“We worked in practice on moving pitches and leaving everything else up to the offense,” Plourde said after Friday’s game. “Our offense getting some runs in the middle of the game was very helpful so it takes a lot of pressure of the pitcher so you just do your job and hopefully they get the runs.”

The victory was the 10th in a row for UMass, and the Minutewomen return to the road on Tuesday when the face off with Boston University. UMass beat the Terriers 3-0 last Tuesday in Amherst.

Jeffrey R. Larnard can be reached at [email protected].