Complete Game Notes as a PDF

IT'S TOURNEY TIME
Winners of seven of its final 10 games to close the regular season, the Southern Connecticut State University softball team looks to defend its Northeast-10 Conference Tournament title this weekend. The Owls enter the tournament as the No. 2 seed and will begin play on Friday in the final game of the day, scheduled for 3 p.m. Southern Connecticut finished the regular season 27-18 overall with a 20-10 conference record. The tournament runs through Sunday.

WHITLEY CONTINUES TO SWING A HOT BAT
Sophomore Kristin Whitley ended the regular season with a .455 batting average, 11 points higher than last year, when she was the Northeast-10 batting title runner-up. She currently leads the team in every offensive category including RBI's, batting average, slugging percentage and home runs. Whitley is tops in the NE-10 in batting average, RBI and slugging percentage and is second in home runs.

EVERYBODY HITS
Seven of the Owls nine everyday starters finished the season with at least a .301 batting average.

OWLS REMAIN NO. 4 IN NCAA RANKINGS
Southern Connecticut remained No. 4 in the NCAA Regional rankings that were announced last week. These rankings are used to determine NCAA Tournament selection.

AGAINST THE TOURNAMENT FIELD
The Owls posted an 8-3 mark against the five remaining teams in this year's field and topped every opponent at least once during the regular season.

NO-NO FOR LARSON
Jayme Larson decided that a one-hitter was not good enough. After tossing a one-hitter against Stonehill, she came back the next day to toss a no-hitter with 14 strikeouts against Bentley. Larson finished the regular season with a 16-7 mark with two saves to go along with a 2.67 earned average run.

KING OF THE HILL
Brittany Hill has been constantly improving throughout the season and closed the regular season with seven wins for the Owls.

LARSON, WHITLEY HAVE FINE FINAL WEEK
Kristin Whitley batted .486 in the final week of the regular season with six home runs and 15 RBI. Jayme Larson followed suit in the circle with a 5-1 mark to go with a 1.40 ERA.

POWER FROM PRIEST
Senior Robin Priest has been a long-ball threat this year, as she is fourth on the team with six home runs.

POULIOT FINDS HER SWING
Stacy Pouliot recorded a hit in all six games two weeks ago totaling an 11-for-17 performance with seven RBI and four runs to help the Owls to a 3-3 week at home. For her efforts, she was named Northeast-10 Conference Player of the Week.

WHITLEY REMAINS CONSISTENT
After finishing second in the Northeast-10 Conference in batting average last year, sophomore Kristin Whitley was third as of last week.

THIBAULT DOES NOT NEED THE TEE
Jillian Thibault made an immediate impact in her first season with the Owls. She batted .368 during the regular season with three home runs and 15 RBI.

BUCKO TURNS IT UP LATE
Brittany Bucko batted .311 over the final 20 games of the regular season to boost her overall batting average to .301 on the year.

PROVIDING SOME DRAMA
Stacy Pouliot had a grand slam against Merrimack in the top of the seventh to put the Owls up 8-7 on April 9. Jessica Rosa hit a grand slam the next day to help the Owls score eight runs in the top of the fourth inning in the first game against UMass-Lowell on April 10.

ROAD WARRIORS
The Owls are currently 11-5 on the road this year.

ROSA DOES IT WITH HER ARM, BAT
Jessica Rosa has been a steady contributor both offensively and in the circle this year. She has posted a 4-2 pitching record with also batted .315 with seven home runs and 40 RBI for the Owls.

SEVEN INNINGS IS NEVER ENOUGH
The Owls have played five extra inning games with a record of 3-2 in those extra inning games including a recent win against Assumption where the Owls rallied in the top of the ninth to score two runs to win 2-0.

DOWNS PICKS UP WHERE SHE LEFT OFF
Sophomore Alyssa Downs closed the regular season with a .317 batting average to go along with eight home runs and 37 RBI. She ranked second on the team in home runs and third in RBI.

WALK-OFF IN STYLE
The Owls showed great poise under pressure, winning three of their five games in walk-off or in extra inning fashion in Florida. Brittany Bucko registered a two run single to put the Owls up 4-3 against Philadelphia University in in the eighth, while the very next game Jessica Rosa knocked in Alyssa Downs with a walk-off single in the bottom of the seventh against Caldwell College. The next day offered just as many late inning heroics for Kristin Whitley who doubled in the bottom half of the eighth to score Brittany Bucko and win by a final of 3-2.

MERCY RULE
The Owls used the softball mercy rule to make short work of the team from Bridgeport with a score of 9-1 in the fifth inning.

SEVEN IS THEIR LUCKY NUMBER?
The Owls are 12-3 when scoring seven or more runs against their opponent.

FIRST AND FOREMOST
The Owls were ranked No. 1 in the 2011 Northeast-10 Conference Preseason Poll.

42... AND THEN SOME
The 2010 campaign marked the best season in the history of the Southern Connecticut State University softball program. The Owls qualified for the NCAA Tournament for the third time in the past four years and collected a school record 42 victories.

IN THE NATIONAL POLLS
Southern Connecticut was among the programs receiving votes in the NFCA Division II national preseason poll of 2011. The Owls have since been in the others receiving votes category in each of the first five weeks of 2011.

A FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING
The Owls won their first Northeast-10 Conference Tournament title by sweeping through the 2010 event. In addition, Southern Connecticut also went on to record its first two NCAA Tournament victories in program history and reached the East Regional final.

EXCELLENCE IN THE CLASSROOM
Senior Khristle Lee and sophomore Brittany Hill were recognized for their performance in the classroom during the 2010 softball season. Both student-athletes were named as Division II Athletic Directors Association Academic Achievement Award winners. In addition, Lee was named to the Northeast-10 Conference Softball All-Academic Team for the second year in a row, and also collected Academic All-District honors from the College Sports Information Directors of America.

FIVE NAMED ALL-REGION
Five members of the Southern Connecticut State University softball team – seniors Megan Caporossi, Kerry Iacomini, and Khristle Lee and freshmen Brittany Bucko and Kristin Whitley were recognized with All-Region honors from the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA). The Owls' five selections were the most from any school in the region.

SEVEN CAPTURE NORTHEAST-10 HONORS
Seven Owls earned Northeast-10 Conference laurels for their play during the 2010 campaign, Senior Khristle Lee earned All-Conference First-Team honors, while senior Kerry Iacomini and freshman Brittany Bucko were named to the All-Conference Second-Team and senior Megan Caporossi, sophomore Jayme Larson and freshman Kristin Whitley were selected to the All-Conference Third-Team. In addition, freshman Alyssa Downs, Bucko and Whitley were each named to the All-Conference Rookie Team.

A DYNAMIC DUO
The pair of freshmen Brittany Bucko and Kristin Whitley made an immediate impact in 2010. Bucko was asked to hold down the leadoff spot in their lineup all season. She led the league in runs scored (51), was second in triples (6), third in walks (25), sixth in total bases (94) and eighth in stolen bases (15). Bucko also accumulated a .351 batting average, 31 runs batted in and seven homeruns. Whitley, the 2010 Northeast-10 Conference batting champion runner-up (.444 average), Whitley led the team in that department. She was also second in the league in doubles (18), fourth in the league in hits (63) and on-base percentage (.494), fifth in slugging percentage (.662), sixth in total bases (94) and seventh in RBI (36).

ON DECK
The NCAA Tournament begins next weekend, with the Owls looking to reach the postseason for the third year in a row.