Messina, Constantin Defend NEC Weekly Awards
Laura Messina was named the NEC Pitcher of the Week and freshman Tori Constantin was tabbed the NEC Rookie of the Week on Monday afternoon.
Senior Laura Messina and freshman Tori Constantin of the Central Connecticut softball team were respectively named the NEC Pitcher and NEC Rookie of the week for the second consecutive week, the league office announced Monday afternoon. The duo defended their individual titles after powering the Blue Devils to a 4-0 record on the week, extending CCSU's current winning streak to 10-straight games. Central took down a pair of NEC opponents on the road this weekend, defeating Wagner twice on Saturday before topping Mount St. Mary's twice on Sunday, to improve to 21-7 overall on the season and a perfect 8-0 in NEC play.
Messina was nothing but impressive again for the Blue Devils inside the circle, en route to earning her fourth NEC Pitcher of the Week award this season and 16th of her career. She was nearly unhittable, hurling three shutouts in four complete game victories, while posting a 0.52 ERA and holding batters to a miniscule .165 average on the week. In total, the Marlton, NJ phenom worked 27.0 innings, striking out 33 and only walking two.
Messina threw her first of three-straight complete game shutouts on the week in game one on Saturday in a 1-0 victory over Wagner. She fired a two-hitter and struck out nine Seahawks. She followed that up in game two with a six hit shutout, sitting down seven Wagner batters on strikes, to power CCSU to a 3-0 win.
The senior standout then recorded what could be considered her most dominate performance of the year in a 2-0 victory in game one at Mount St. Mary's on Sunday. Messina faced just 22 Mount batters, one over the minimum, as she spun another two hit shutout. She did not allow an opposing runner to touch second base in the game and struck out seven, all while running her consecutive scoreless innings streak to 39 straight over her last seven appearances.
Messina earned her fourth win of the week and ninth straight in her last nine starts after tossing six innings in a 12-2 mercy rule victory over the Mount in game two. The two runs Messina allowed in the third inning ended her scoreless innings streak at 41. She struck out 10 in the final game of the week to secure back-to-back NEC Pitcher of the Week honors.
Messina is now 17-3 on the year in 21 starts inside the circle for CCSU with a 0.92 ERA. She has 19 complete games, a NCAA-leading 11 shutouts and 183 strikeouts over 144.1 innings of work. She also now has 902 strikeouts in her career and is just 98 away from 1,000.
Constantin locked up her second consecutive and third NEC Rookie of the Week award of the season after she hit .333 (4-12) and launched her fourth home run of the season to fuel the Blue Devils to four wins on the week. The freshman drove in a pair and also scored three runs as the Blue Devils ran their winning streak to 10 straight games.
Constantin, a Norfolk, MA native, opened the week with a multi-hit game in game one at Wagner on Saturday, finishing 2-for-3 with a pair of singles. The power-hitting rookie first baseman followed that up with her fourth home run of the season in game two, which proved to be the game-winner in a 3-0 CCSU victory.
Constantin then closed off two-day road trip strong in the second game at the Mount on Sunday, going 1-for-3 with two runs scored and a RBI in a six-inning, 12-2 CCSU win. So far in her rookie campaign, Constantin is currently is second on the team in RBI's (16) and home runs (4) and fourth on the team in average (.259).
Messina, Constantin and the Blue Devils will return to the diamond with a mid-week nonconference bout against intrastate rival UConn on Wednesday afternoon. First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m. in Storrs, CT.