The Massachusetts softball team is riding a four-game winning streak heading into a weekend of big conference games.
The Minutewomen (6-16, 3-1 Atlantic 10) will take on Fordham on Friday at 3 p.m., and Saturday at noon, and will then face La Salle in a doubleheader Sunday starting at noon. All games will be played at Sortino Field.
UMass hopes to continue its strong performances from a lineup that has scored an average of 8.8 runs per game over the past five contests. However, after facing three teams — Dayton, Boston College and St. Bonaventure — with an average team earned run average of 5.72, the Minutewomen will face a greater challenge against the Rams (20-11, 4-2 A-10), who come into the weekend sporting a 3.06 team ERA.
“I would like to believe that our team gets a little bit better every day and that we’re going to be able to match up with the kind of pitching we see,” UMass coach Elaine Sortino said.
Fordham comes in with a strong offense as well, averaging 5.55 runs scored per game.
Pitcher and first baseman Jamie LaBovick leads the Rams in the circle and at the plate. LaBovick boasts a 10-7 record, 2.68 ERA and 51 strikeouts, and holds her own at the dish with a conference-leading .443 batting average and team-record 18-game hitting streak.
While the Minutewomen lead the overall series, 44-7, and have a 16-game home winning streak, the Rams were the last team to defeat UMass in Amherst, and the two teams have won or shared the last 22 A-10 regular season titles.
The Minutewomen will also look for starting pitchers Caroline Raymond and Emma Mendoker to step up to the challenge this weekend. While both pitchers notched two wins over the team’s current winning streak, they also gave up a combined 27 runs (16 earned) over those four games.
“You can’t look by it,” Sortino said of the starting pitching. “You’ve got to have a strong performance on the mound to be in the ball game and be competitive.”
But UMass will have to straighten things out the field, as the Minutewomen are last in the A-10 with a .911 fielding percentage, committing a conference-worst 57 errors.
“That’s what we’ve been working on all week,” Sortino said. “UMass defense, come and get the ball, cut them off, do whatever it takes. We don’t care what it looks like, we just want you to get the job done.”
La Salle (12-13, 1-5 A-10) plays two games against Rhode Island before taking on UMass. The Explorers have lost their last five conference matchups, and are 0-37 in their history against the Minutewomen.
After being selected 10th overall in the National Pro Fastpitch Draft on Monday, UMass senior outfielder Cyndil Matthew goes into the weekend looking to extend her own five-game hitting streak. Matthew leads the team in batting average (.388), on-base percentage (.488), runs scored (14) and stolen bases (14).
Sortino said this weekend’s games could be some of the most important of the season.
“A lot of fate and destiny will be decided over the next few days,” she said.
Jesse Mayfield-Sheehan can be reached at [email protected] and can be followed on Twitter @jgms88.
