Bash-Birds Sweep: LIU-Brooklyn Freshman Archer Continues to Display Power

April 11, 2012 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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By John Torenli

The late 1980s Oakland Athletics were famously or, depending on your view of recent revelations, infamously referred to as “The Bash Brothers,” with Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire leading the Majors’ most lethal offensive attack.

Perhaps they should start calling the LIU-Brooklyn softball squad “The Bash Sisters,” or maybe just “Brooklyn’s Bash-Birds.”

Winners of five of their last seven games, the Blackbirds (14-30, 6-4 Northeast Conference) are slowly climbing up the league standings thanks to a recent power surge, spearheaded by freshman sensation Nicole Archer.

The team leader with seven home runs — two shy of the first-year mark for any LIU player ever — Archer went 3-for-4 with a long ball in Saturday afternoon’s 14-7 rout of Fairleigh Dickinson at Downtown’s LIU Field.

Cassie Vondrak went the distance in pitching LIU to a 5-4 win in the opener and junior Karina Cervantes completed a five-hit day by going 4-for-5 and scoring twice in the nightcap.

Archer, who also homered during Saturday’s DH split with Quinnipiac, paces an LIU attack featuring three players with at least four homers and 14 RBIs. Nichole Toven, batting a team-best .292, and Paris Shipp are Archer’s sisters in bashing opponents’ pitches.

The trio combined to go 5-for-14 with six RBIs and six runs scored in Saturday’s second game. With the win, LIU crawled into a three-way tie for second place in the NEC with Quinnipiac and Sacred Heart, just one game back of first-place Robert Morris.

Thanks to Archer and her mates, the Blackbirds already have five more homers than they managed all of last season. They’ll try to add to that total Wednesday afternoon when they host St. John’s at LIU Field for a 4 p.m. first pitch.

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The Brooklyn College softball team split a City University of New York Athletic Conference doubleheader against Baruch yesterday at Monsignor Crawford Field. The Bulldogs dropped the opener 5-1, before bouncing back to claim the split with a 7-2 win in Game Two.

With the split, BC moved to 10-10 overall on the season and 4-4 in the CUNYAC.

Junior Kim Konklewski, sophomore Meagan Cranston, sophomore Allison Donovan and senior Antoinette Brown each had at least two hits as the Bulldogs pounded out 13 in the nightcap.Brooklyn will be back in action Wednesday, hitting the road to take on non-conference foe Albertus Magnus College in New Haven, CT. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m.

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Freshman Matt Mummert, a member of the LIU-Brooklyn men’s soccer team, was awarded the prestigious Jeannette K. Watson Fellowship yesterday, the Downtown school announced.

The three-year fellowship program offers paid summer internships, mentoring and enhanced educational opportunities to New York City undergraduates who demonstrate exceptional promise, outstanding leadership skills and commitment to the common good.

Mummert, who is pursuing a major in political science, has been active with community service projects with the men’s soccer team, including HOPE 2012, a homeless outreach program, and youth soccer clinics with the Tillary Park Foundation.

In his hometown of Crawfordsville, Ind., Mummert was an integral part of the cleanup of the town’s Amtrak station, which had the lowest rating in the country. Mummert worked to organize events and rallies, recruit volunteers, and involve local businesses to support the effort to improve the grounds and landscaping.

In his first year as a Blackbird, Mummert played in 13 games and served as an anchor on LIU’s defensive line. He took five shots while helping the Blackbirds to key Northeast Conference wins over Quinnipiac, Robert Morris and Bryant.

Twelve colleges in all, including LIU-Brooklyn, compete annually for 15 Jeannette K. Watson Fellowship openings; at least one college from each borough is included in the pool of eligible colleges.

Each school may nominate up to four candidates to send to the citywide election panels. Campus representatives are responsible for spreading the word about the fellowship and navigating students through the entire process. Only the most determined candidates complete the rigorous application process.

Previous LIU-Brooklyn Jeannette K. Watson Fellowship recipients are (2000) Raynal Jabouin and Cheryl Williams, (2001) Joel Mentor, (2002) Jana Hasprunarova and Shibinsky Martin, (2003) David Ledet, Dynell Pinder, Joanna Sorocki, and Julianna Tabak, (2004) Christine Carleton, (2005) Andrea Calouri and Mitu Quan, (2006) Rony Enriquez and Jonathan Kuhr, (2007) Alane Celeste and Alexandra Gratereaux, (2008) Blaire Porter, (2009) Damala Denny, (2010) Amire Solomon and Tenyse Williams and (2011) Victoria Anne Abolencia.