Top-Seeded Bridgewater State Earns 2013 MASCAC Softball Crown By Topping Second-Seeded MCLA In Championship Round
Top-seeded Bridgewater State earned the 2013 Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference Softball title by taking a pair of contests from second-seeded MCLA in championship round action on Sunday afternoon, as the Bears topped the Trailblazers by 2-0 and 2-1 finals in games played at Alumni Park in Bridgewater, Mass.
Click here for MASCAC Championship Game #1 box score
Click here for MASCAC Championship Game #2 box score
Courtesy Bridgewater State Sports Information
Bridgewater State 2, MCLA 1
BRIDGEWATER, Mass. - Led by
tournament MVP Amber White (Middleboro, Mass.), Bridgewater State
captured the program's eighth Massachusetts State Collegiate
Athletic Conference (MASCAC) Softball Tournament championship as
the top-seeded Bears downed second-seeded MCLA, 2-1, in the title
game on Sunday afternoon at Alumni Park.
By virtue of the tournament championship, the team's first since
2009, the Bears will advance to the NCAA Division III Tournament
for the 22nd time in program history. The NCAA Division III
Softball Tournament selection show will be webcast live at www.ncaa.com on Monday
morning at ten with regional play getting underway on Thursday, May
9th.
After giving up an unearned run in the first due to a three-base
dropped fly ball, White (14-6) blanked the visiting Trailblazers
the rest of the way as she went the distance giving up just the one
unearned run on four hits with a walk and four strikeouts.
White masterfully worked out of a bases loaded, nobody out jam in
the second by inducing a harmless pop out followed by back-to-back
strikeouts. She would go on to retire 11 straight batters in a row
before giving up a two-out double in the fifth.
Jessica Laudati (Berkley, Mass.), whose error in the first led to
the Trailblazers' only run of the game, made amends in the bottom
of the fourth by launching the game-tying home run over the left
field fence.
The Bears took the 2-1 lead in the fifth as Jocelyn Bettencourt
(Plymouth, Mass.) reached on an infield single with two outs and
then scored all the way from first on Jennifer Shaw's (Brockton,
Mass.) clutch RBI double.
After coming through with the bat in the fifth, Shaw made a
terrific defensive play in the sixth as she leaped to snag a line
drive and turned it into an inning-ending double play.
White would set the side down in order in the seventh to secure
the tournament championship for the Bears. The MASCAC Pitcher
of the Year gave up just four runs (one earned) over 28 innings
during the tournament as she posted a 0.25 earned run average with
27 strikeouts and just one walk. White entered the tournament
ranked fifth in all of Division III in ERA and sixth in fewest
walks allowed.
Bettencourt paced Bridgewater's nine-hit attack as she went
3-for-3 at the plate. Laudati (2-for-3) and Melissa Harmon
(Shrewsbury, Mass.) also had multiple hits for the Bears. Harmon
went 2-for-3 with a pair of singles.
Rachel Quackenbush (Hoosick Falls, N.Y.) suffered the loss in the circle for the Trailblazers. Quackenbush (11-8) allowed two runs on nine hits with a walk and eight strikeouts. Tanelle Ciempa (Adams, Mass.) had two of MCLA's six hits in the game as she singles twice in three at bats.
Bridgewater State 2, MCLA 0
BRIDGEWATER, Mass. - Junior pitcher
Amber White (Middleboro, Mass.) hurled a complete game, two-hit
shutout, and senior catcher Brianna Strecker (Waterford, Mass.)
belted a two-run homer to lift top-seeded Bridgewater State to a
2-0 victory over number two seed MCLA on Sunday afternoon at Alumni
Park.
The Bears stave off elimination with the win and force the "if
necessary" championship game which will get underway at 2:00 PM
this afternoon.
Strecker launched her game-winning home run with two outs in the
top of the fifth to break a scoreless tie. Senior center
fielder Courtney Gregoire (Dartmouth, Mass.) started the rally with
a long double to the gap in right-center field. Strecker then
drilled a 2-1 pitch over the left field fence to give the Bears the
2-0 lead.
White (14-6) was masterful throughout as she allowed just two hits
with no walks while striking out three in a 73-pitch effort.
Freshman Rachel Quackenbush (Hoosick Falls, N.Y.) suffered the
loss in the circle for the Trailblazers. Quackenbush (11-7)
gave up just the two runs on five hits with a walk and seven
strikeouts.