Softball Splits With Smith

 WESTFIELD, Mass.    –  Westfield State's Sarah Bingham and Christina Ciampa had rbi doubles and pitcher Kathleen Canty ran her record to 7-0 on the season as the Owls won game 2 to split a doubleheader with Smith College at Sullivan Field on Wednesday afternoon.

Smith took the opener by a 5-4 score, while the Owls topped the Pioneers, 6-0 in game 2, which was shortened to five innings by darkness.

Westfield is now 17-3 on the season, while Smith is 4-10.

In game 1, Smith did all of it's damage early, with two runs in the first and three in the second. Kat Wajerski doubled and scored in the first and drove in a run with a base hit in the second.

Westfield pushed across single runs in the second, third, fourth and seventh.  Bingham had a pair of base hits and a sacrifice fly, driving in two runs and scoring another. In the seventh inning, Hannah Wodecki led off with a double and later scored on Bingham's single.   The Owls left the bases loaded to end the game; they stranded a total of 11 runners in the game.

Starting pitcher Gianna Conte (L, 2-1) took the pitching loss for the Owls.  Starter Emilie Doty (W, 1-6) struck out six and earned the win for the Owls.

In the nightcap, the Owls pitchers tossed a shutout, with Joss Mettey working the first three innings and Canty the final two to earn the win.

Westfield scored twice in the second inning, with an RBI double to left-center gap from Allyssa Slack. The Owls tacked on four more in the third inning, with Bingham plating one run with a double and Ciampa adding a two-run double later in the inning.

Ally Knutson and Piper Corey each had a pair of hits for the Pioneers.   Starter Linsday Bennett (L,0-2) went the distance and took the loss.

Westfield will be back in MASCAC Conference action on Friday, hosting Worcester State in a 2:30 p.m. doubleheader.  Please note the games were moved to Friday (from Saturday) to take advantage of the better weather forecast with rain forecast for Saturday.