Worcester, MA- In their return to action from Spring Break the Worcester State Softball team (5-4, 0-0) will welcome Ralph Raymond Diamond the Clark Cougars (7-5, 0-0) for their home opener of the season. In last year's meeting the Lancers not only recorded two wins but had a 100th career hit and a grand slam. Worcester hopes to follow that example this afternoon as junior Emma Lapoint (Westfield, MA) began the day just three hits away from her career 100th.
Final
Game 1
Worcester State: 8
Clark: 2
Game 2
Worcester State: 10
Clark: 6
How it Happened:
In the opening game action Worcester did not allow any runs in the first while junior Cali Brouillard (Millbury, MA) made some key plays in the outfield. After the first inning, the Lancers would claim the 3-0 lead in the game over Clark off a Lapoint double that would send senior Emma Lanpher (Charlton, MA) across home. That was followed up by junior Amanda Adamuska (Dudley, MA) going deep to left field to bring Lapoint home while Brouillard would single to send Adamuska across the plate to get the scoring started. After the 2nd inning the Lancers were able to hold onto their lead 3-2 as Clark answered back with some runs of their own but WOrcester was not done scoring yet. The third would find Adamuska again single with Lapoint adding in run four. The fourth inning found Lanpher double which would bring in junior Camden Heenan (Webster, MA), who was then brought home off an error in the outfield to grab a 6-2 lead. Two more runs would be tallied in the fourth as Lapoint would find home plate off a junior Bella Gasbarro (Leominster, MA) double to center with Adamuska ending the first game scoring by helping across junior Morgan Keefe (Dracut, MA). Senior Sarah Gosselin (Charlton, MA) would claim the win striking out seven in the complete game win.
Game two action would initially look to being following the same script as the first senior Abigail Koziol (Luneburg, MA) would send in Lapoint to take a 1-0 lead in the first. An error in left field would bring across Brouillard for the second while Lapoint's 100th career hit would send in two runs as junior Carisa Andrews (Medfield,MA) and first year Laurel Field (Holden, MA) to make it 4-0. Lapoint would then find home plate off a wild pitch to move the score to 5-0 before a Brouillard double would end the scoring in the third by sending Adamuska in for run 6.
The fourth inning would see the game move to 9-0 off a full diamond as a Gasbarro single scored Lapoint, a Brouillard single would send in Koziol and Field was walked to send home run nine from Gasbarro. Clark would then spend the next two innings inching their way closer in the game as they cut the lead to just three runs before the bottom of the sixth found Brouillard reaching on error that would provide time for Gasbarro to make it around third for run 10 on the day. Sophomore Taylor Coonan (Grafton, MA) who came in to relieve sophomore Peyton Maloney (West Boyston, MA) would make quick work of the seventh to hold on to the 10-6 victory.
Maloney would end the night with eight strikeouts while Coonan would add another two on the game.
What's Next:
Worcester State is quick to return to action as they head to WPI and the rooftop field on Thursday to not only take on two versus the Engineers at 3:30pm but also help host the Worcester Youth Day. There will be pregame and postgame activities as both teams look to bring together the Greater Worcester Community.