Cougars Snap Up Weekly NEWMAC Honors

Babson Park, Mass. - Three Clark University student-athletes have snagged New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) weekly awards it has been announced by the conference office on Monday afternoon.

Baseball outfielder Mitchell DeLorenzo (Berlin, Conn.) hit a robust .538 with a homerun and ten RBI, while slugging .808 in seven games during the Cougars' spring break trip, earning him NEWMAC Player of the Week.

He had an on-base percentage of .581, while handling all 48 of his opportunities in the field without an error.

His 14 hits, including four doubles, were a team-best and came in just 26 at-bats. One of his best performances of the week came in the season-opener against Colby Sawyer when he went 4-for-4 with a double, a homerun, three runs scored, four RBI and a stolen base.

He also went 4-for-4 in an 18-6 loss to Saint Joe's (Maine) and had two other games with at least two hits.

Softball opened up its season in Florida as well and turned in a 9-1 record. A great deal of their offensive production came off the bat of NEWMAC Player of the Week, Melissa Traft (Milton, Mass.).

Traft hit .421 in 10 games for the Cougars, collecting 16 hits along the way - including the 100th of her career. She smacked a pair of homeruns, one of which was the game winner in a 4-3 win over Wilmington.

She drove in 18 runs, had hits in nine of ten games and six multi-hit contests, including a 3-hit game against Heidelberg.

In addition to her .737 slugging percentage and .450 on-base percentage, Traft picked up a win on the mound in the season-opening win over Wartburg. She tossed 2.2 innings of three-hit, scoreless relief while striking out three.

The star on the mound for Clark during the spring break trip was junior Sarah Carter (Worcester, Mass.). Carter posted a remarkable 5-0 record with a 2.95 ERA in seven appearances for the Cougars during a 9-1 spring break trip.

In 21.1 innings of work, she registered 19 strikeouts and just three walks. Her best performance came in a win over Wheelock, where she tossed three innings of one-hit ball while striking out six and walking none. In a 4-3 win over Wilmington, she went 3.2 innings, allowing just four hits while striking out five.

Both teams return to the diamond this week with non-league mid-week contests before opening up league play this weekend.