North Myrtle Beach, SC- Don't tell the Worcester State University softball team that they needed games under its belt to hit the orb on its spring training trip South. The Lady Lancers put up another dominating win in all areas of the game, this morning against Little East opponent Keene State in the Fast Pitch Dream Tournament. WSU is now hitting .381 as a group and put together a sweet 5-game win streak to run its record to 6-1. The Lancers would end up dropping the final game of the day in a heartbreaker, with Mt. Aloysius got a walk-off run in the bottom of the 7th inning.
The Worcester State Softball team started their game versus Keene with a bang, as sophomore Emma Lanpher (Charlton, MA) singled to third on a rocket to get on base early, following that up with a steal of second base. First year Morgan Keefe (Dracut, MA) stepped up for a single that advanced Lanpher to third base. A stolen base attempt by Keefe saw the Keene catcher try to catch Lanpher at third, resulting in an error on the play that instead brought her home and advanced Keefe to third. First year Bella Gasbarro (Leominster, MA) grounded out to 2nd, but Keefe managed to bring it home to make the game 2-0. In the bottom of the inning, junior Emily Bartlett (Lowell, MA) was ice cold on the mound, striking out her first two batters before forcing the third into a pop out on the first pitch.
The second inning went 1-2-3 for the Lancers, while Keene's opening batter sent the ball deep into left over the head of the left fielder to get their first runner on base. Senior Naraylee Baez (Northborough, MA) would wrap up the inning to prevent further damage by nabbing two pop flies to left field, while Bartlett struck out a batter looking. The stalemate continued throughout the third as Keefe was able to get on base, but was left stranded as the Keene defense blocked up the contact from Worcester. The Lancers responded in kind in the bottom of the inning to preserve the 2-0 lead.
The bottom of the fourth saw Keene get a runner on with the tying run at the plate. A walk followed by a single saw Keene cut the lead to one, with the tying run ready to run at third. Bartlett managed to pitch herself out of the jam with some help from centerfielder first year Bailey Tammaro (Fitchburg, MA) to preserve the 2-1 lead.
The sixth found the Lancers got things off to a quick start with a junior Lauren Dube (Leominster, MA) double down the left field line. Senior Rachel Sinclair (Westminster, MA) followed it up with a drive down the middle that forced the shortstop to stop first year Jayden Kelly (Tyngsboro, MA), who stepped in as a pinch runner for Dube to grab third, allowing Sinclair to land on first. Sophomore Abigail Koziol (Lunenburg, MA) then hit a little popper that dropped just on the fair side of the right foul line to load the bases with no outs. A passed ball brought home Kelly, and a single by Baez reloaded the bases with one out for the Lancers. Senior Jacqui Schwalm (Billerica, MA) tapped the ball down third and raced it out for a single keeping the bases loaded and Sinclair home for run number four. Lanpher then stepped to the plate, sending a line drive down the middle to center, sending home Koziol and Baez to make it a 6-1 game. Keene looked to slow Worcester down with a change of pitchers, but the Owls could not stop the streak as Keefe singled deep into left bringing in two more runs.
The seventh saw the last bit of action as Baez found first and stole her way home to run number nine for the Lancers to finish up the scoring in the game.Two side notes about the game, the Lancers committed zero errors on defense, and got their speed game going with 4 stolen bases.
Emily Bartlett (1-1) went the distance giving up only 4 hits, 1 earned run, 1 walk, with 6 strikeouts.
The second game of the day saw the Lancers square up with Mt. Aloysius and started off with a bang as they scored a run in the opening inning off some crafty hit work that saw a Keefe single and a first year Emma Lapoint (Westfield, MA) ground out sent leadoff batter Lanpher home. Aloysius responded right back in the first with several singles that put Worcester in standoff positions in the infield and eventually brought in two runs and left the bases loaded with two outs. Sophomore Sarah Gosselin (Charlton, MA) kept her cool and struck out the batter swinging for the third out. Worcester State tied it back up in the top of the second when Baez was sent home off Schwam line drive single to center. A Keefe single took the Lancers back into the lead as the bottom of the second now had the Lancers ahead 3-2. Gosselin made clean work of the top of the batting order in the bottom of the second to preserve the one run lead into the third.
The top of third started with Koziol sending her first pitch deep into right field for a double to await a teammate to send her home. A Kelly ground out to the shortstop gave Koziol the gap she needed to get to third and a first year Amanda Adamuska (Dudley, MA) singled up the left baseline line sent her home for run number four. Baez stepped up to the plate dropping a hit between short and left to place runners on first and second. A tiny blooper hit by Schwalm had her racing the toss for a single but a mishandled ball at first advanced her to second base, while teammates Adamuska and Baez raced the initial hit for an additional two runs on the board.
Keefe starte off the top of the fourth the same as Koziol in the third, with a double to right field to get the inning rolling. A walk on Lapoint, after fouling off pitch after pitch, put two runners on base. The remaining batters worked the Mounties pitcher at each at bat but were unable to come away with any additional runs in the inning. The scoreless stand remained through the fifth inning for both teams as the score sat at 6-2 Worcester State.
The top of the sixth saw the next scoring action as Lanpher scored off a Koziol single that pushed the lead to five for Worcester. The Mounties responded in the bottom of the 6th with a run of their own to bring the 7-3. The bottom of the seventh had the Mounties vying for the walk off win sending in their big hitters. They quickly got two runs back to make it 7-5 when field jitters set in causing two errors in the inning and the tying run crossing home plate. A walk off run by the Mounties brought the comeback win to Mt. Aloysius.