North Myrtle Beach, SC- The Worcester State Softball matched up in their final two games on a windy St. Patrick's Day at the FastPitch Dream Softball Tournament. Game one saw the Lancers square up with the Castleton State Spartans, while game two later at night had them taking the field versus Albertus Magnus College.
Let one thing be clear on St. Patrick's Day, the Worcester State University softball team didn't need Luck of the Irish on this day. Just a relentless offensive attack was needed to pull out a 9-6 victory over Castleton State in the FastPitch Dream Tournament. The Lady Lancers got right back to its winning ways in Game 1 on Friday upping their record to 7-2.
Worcester State tried to follow their trend and get a run early in the first inning with sophomore Emma Lanpher (Charlton, MA) getting on base early, but she was caught stealing second base shortly after leaving Worcester two outs and senior Rachel Sinclair up to bat. Sinclair singled, with an error on the third baseman allowing her to get to second the Lancers were unable to find a way to bring her home and remained scoreless in their first at bat. First year Jayden Kelly (Tyngsboro, MA) made quick work of the bottom of the inning to bring Worcester back up for another chance at a run. An opening single followed by two fielder's choice outs made it seem this would be a quick at bat for Worcester, but some quick speed on some tight bunts quickly had the bases loaded with two outs. A pitch just on the outside corner for strike three though saw the Lancers dreams for a run come up short. The bottom of the inning saw Castleton fill up the bases for their own but a diving pop up snag by first year Bella Gasbarro (Leominster, MA) and a foul fly out to senior Naraylee Baez (Northborough, MA) helped Kelly come away from the inning with a clean board.
It was a quick at bat for the Lancers in the third inning while Kelly and her infielders worked the bottom half. Gasbarro snagged a line drive for out number one, but a bobble from first year Emma Lapoint (Westfield, MA) at second saw the Spartans get a runner on. A double from the next batter brought the first run of the game in as the base runner on second raced the throw home. A ground out to Gasbarro and a redemption from Lapoint brought the inning to a close with only a single run of damage.
The fourth inning started strong for the Lancers as an error on the Spartans shortstop found Gasbarro on first after just a single pitch. Baez's dribble roller to second found each advancing a base to put runners on first and second with just one out called. A senior Jacqui Schwalm (Billerica, MA) single would have had the bases loaded, but Gasbarro was called for runner interference on the play and out number two. That did not prevent Lanpher from bringing a run home though, as she grounded a ball up the gap between second and first to send Baez home. Lapoint followed up the momentum with a grounder to the shortstop, who mishandled the ball sending it to centerfield and Schwalm across home plate for run number two. First year Bailey Tammaro (Fitchburg, MA) moved from center field to the mound for the bottom of the inning, where, with the help of her fielders, Worcester made quick work of the Spartan batters. First year Carissa Andrews (Medford, MA) nabbed the first out in right field, while a ground out to Lanpher and pop-up foul to junior Lauren Dube (Leominster, MA) collected outs two and three. The Lancers had a 1-2-3 moment of their own at bat to bring the Spartans back up to threaten for runs. Worcester managed to grab two quick outs before Castleton put two runners in scoring position. A two out double brought both runners home and put the Spartans up 3-2. Tammaro kept her composure to snag the final out as the ball popped back to the pitcher for the final out.
A double error start for the Spartans in the sixth, on a Tammaro and Baez single, quickly had the Lancers tying the game up at three, as each managed to get to second on their respective plays. A Schwalm bunt had Baez advancing to third, and a missing first and second baseman had Schwalm walk her way to second on the play. Lapoint's at bat saw further fielding issues for the Spartans as her single advanced her to second on a bad return pass from the center fielder allowing Baez across the plate. Sinclair then nailed a double to deep left field to see Lapoint spend limited time on base and push Worcester into a 6-3 lead. Sophomore Abigail Koziol (Lunenburg, MA) caused more fielding issues for the Spartans as the third baseman was unable to handle her grounder, putting two on base for Worcester. Gasbarro embraced the opportunity, sending the ball sailing over the towering fence in left field for a three-run homer and sending Worcester into the bottom of the inning up 9-3.
Junior Emily Bartlett (Lowell, MA) came in to pitch at the bottom of the 6th, moving Tammaro back to the outfield, and quickly wrapped up at bats to progress the game to the seventh. Castleton would load the bases early with only one out in the bottom of the seventh when a double by Fish cleared the base runners and cut the Lancers lead to three. A hit batter brought the tying run to the plate for the Spartans with still just a single out on the board. The situation found itself eerily similar to the last Lancer game that saw them falling in the bottom of the seventh in a walk off fashion. Worcester aimed to prevent a repeat performance. Bartlett grabbed out number two striking out the batter looking and prevented the repeat pain when she struck out Castleton's pinch hitter swinging at strike number three.
The 13-hit attack was led by Lanpher with 3 hits, Gasbarro 2 hits (home run) and 3 RBI, Schwalm (2 hits, 2 runs), and LaPoint (2 hits and 3 RBI). The big inning came in the 6th though down 3-2 entering the inning, poured on 7 runs and WSU never looked back.
The pitching was handled by three slingers: Kelly for 3 innings (3 hits, 1 run), Tammaro 2 innings (2 hits, 2 runs), and finished off by Bartlett for the final 2 frames (2 hits, 6 strikeouts).
The Lancers quickly moved onto game two of the day, looking to get win number eight on the trip, as they squared up with Albertus Magnus. The Lancers would play game two again as the visitors, getting the first chance to get runs on the board. Lapoint was the first runner on base, knocking a single between the first and second baseman to get the first base runner on base. Sinclair dropped a double in the gap of left center to put both in scoring position early. A Koziol single sent Lapoint across the plate and while Dube was thrown out at first, Sinclair was free to get herself home for run number two. Gasbarro next doubled sending Koziol back to the dugout and Worcester up 3-0 before the inning closed. Kelly, Sinclair, and Baez worked the batters to grab three quick outs to progress to the second.
The Lancers went down quick with some on point fielding by Albertus Magnus in the second but responded in kind when they were on the mound. Sinclair got on base early in the second, followed by a Koziol walk that saw two base runners on. A Dube ground out advanced the runners while a single from Gasbarro saw Sinclair home. Koziol tried to run out the throw home but was tagged the plate by the catcher, allowing Gasbarro to settle on second. Tammaro was unable to bring her home though as she was struck out to end the Lancer's at bat. The bottom of the inning Albertus was able to secure two runs off their own off fielding errors by the Lancers and cut the lead to just two going into the fourth.
Baez got things started in the fourth with a single over the heads of the infielders into right field. The next three batters did what they could to get her home with sacrifice bunts and flies but a quick nab by the Albertus first baseman on a line drive by Lapoint ended the at bat with no runs to show. Sinclair started the movement again in the fifth, getting on base with nearly the same hit. This time Koziol followed Sinclair on to base for two runners on. A Tammaro single loaded the bases with two outs accounted for, when a wild pitch saw Sinclair race her way past home plate. Baez then stepped to plate, nailing the ball into the infield/outfield gap to send home the two remaining base runners to push Worcester up 7-2.
The bottom of the 6th saw Bartlett step in to close out the game. A single by her first batter saw one run score, while a short throw from center saw the ball slide past Koziol and advance the runners to second and third. A dropping ball on the last batter saw the second out sending home four, but a failed tag from the second base runner secured out number three. The Lancers were quick to try to get the runs back as Koziol doubled to start things off and a sacrifice grounder by Dube moved pinch runner Andres to third. Another sacrifice fly, this time by Gasbarro sent Andrews jogging across the plate for run number eight. Worcester took the 8-4 lead into the bottom of the inning in a bid to come away with two straight bottom of the seventh wins. Lanpher's grasp on a foul tip secured out one, while a Sinclair nab of a foul tip snagged out two. Bartlett grabbed out number three with a strikeout looking to help ease the sting of Wednesday's eight inning loss and set a Worcester State softball Record of 8 wins over Spring Break.
Kelly (54-35) went 5.1 innings, allowing only three hits and two runs while on the mound. Gasbarro led the team with three RBIs on two hits.