WESTFIELD, Mass. – Westfield State softball pulled out a dramatic 6-5 win in 10 innings in game 2 of a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader at Framingham State to enable the Owls to hold on to first place in the league standings.
Framingham held off Westfield, 9-7 in a game one of the twinbill at the Maple Street Field.
Westfield State is now 20-9-1 overall, 8-2 MASCAC a game ahead of the Rams in the loss column as Framingham State is now 4-12, 9-3 MASCAC.
Westfield has four conference games remaining on the regular season schedule, and will have the chance to control their own destiny with playoff seeding.
In the nightcap, Westfield trailed 5-0 after three innings, but got a three-run homer from Alyssa Clark (Uxbridge, Mass.) to tie the game at 5-5 in the fourth inning. Neither team would score until the 10th. Westfield State centerfielder Jordyn Lummus (Pittsfield, Mass.) cut down a runner on a throw to the plate for what would have been the winning run in the ninth inning.
In the 10th with the international tiebreaker in effect, Westfield played for the big inning with the heart of the order at the plate, and Sarah Hough's base hit to center scored Hannah Wodecki (Southampton, Mass.) from second with what would prove to be the winning run. That was all that Westfield could muster in their half of the inning, and Katherine Canty (Natick, Mass.) retired the Rams 1-2-3 in the bottom half of the inning. Canty (W, 7-3) worked seven scoreless innings in relief, allowing four hits and striking out four.
Hough, Lummus, Christina Ciampa (Rockville, Conn.) and Mia Alfonso (Dalton, Mass.) were all repeat hitters for the Owls.
Ally Moran (L, 9-4) took the pitching loss in relief after going the route and getting the win in game one for Framingham.
The opener was a back and forth affair, as Westfield got out to a 2-0 lead after 2.5 innings, but Kelsey McGuill launched a three-run homer to left center in the third inning to put the Rams on top.
Framingham strung together a bunch of hits in the fourth and fifth to extend the lead out to 9-2, the biggest blow a 2-run single from Brooke Grassia in the fourth.
Westfield answered with five runs of their own in the sixth, getting a 2-run single from Wodecki and a 3-run homer from Bingham to trim the final to 9-7.
Canty started and took the pitching loss for the Owls, yielding 12 hits and seven runs. Wodecki finished 2-4 with two rbi, and extended her school season-record RBI total to 46. Bingham's bomb was the 11th of her career, she is in fourth among Owls career leaders in that category. Clark's home run was the 15th of her career, leaving her one shy of the school-record total.
Westfield reaches the 20-win mark for the 11th time in program history, and the second-straight season under second-year head coach Joe Hough.
The Rams are back in action Tuesday when they travel to Lasell for a pair of non-conference games beginning at 3 p.m.
Westfield will travel to Trinity College in Hartford, Conn. for a non-conference doubleheader on Wednesday, April 24.