Russell Garners NFCA All-Region Nod
May 19, 2016 | Softball
BOSTON - After pitching every inning in the Patriot League tournament title run, Boston University senior Melanie Russell received All-Northeast Region Second Team accolades, the National Fastpitch Coaches Association announced Thursday morning.
With her first-career NFCA regional award, Russell becomes the first BU pitcher to receive the honor since Holli Floetker was recognized in both 2011 and 2012. The San Diego, Calif., native currently owns a 14-9 record with a 2.06 ERA and 128 strikeouts against 49 walks in 135.2 innings.
The honor marks just the latest of several for Russell, who has had a remarkable turnaround to the season and was most recently named Patriot League Pitcher of the Year and Tournament MVP. Through the first 26 games of this season, Russell was 1-5 (4.55 ERA) with 13 strikeouts and 26 walks in a total of 27.2 innings of work. In the last 24 games, however, Russell is 13-4 with 1.43 ERA and 115 strikeouts against 23 walks in 108.0 innings of work.
In-season highlights include a 11-strikeout, two-hit shutout performance against Lehigh during the regular season. She later tallied 15 strikeouts at Colgate in just six innings, three shy of the Patriot League record and six shy of the school record (set in 13 innings back in 1993). During the PL tournament, Russell limited the top two seeds to a combined four runs in 19 innings of work.
The Terriers will next open the NCAA tournament at No. 14 seed Louisiana-Lafayette on Friday with the ESPNU broadcast set to begin at 7 p.m. ET.
