Top-Seeded Bridgewater State and Third-Seeded Worcester State Post MASCAC Softball Quarterfinal Wins
Top-seeded Bridgewater State and third-seeded Worcester State advance to the winners bracket of the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference Softball Tournament after winning their respective quarterfinal contests on Friday afternoon.
MCLA/Worcester State Box Score
Bridgewater State/Framingham State Box Score
Courtesy of MCLA Sports Information
Worcester State 3, MCLA 1
The top-seeded Bridgewater State Bears and the third-seeded Worcester State Lancers advance to the winners bracket of the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference Softball Tournament after winning their respective quarterfinal contests on Friday afternoon.
With the win, the Lancers will face the Bears at 1:30 pm Saturday while Framingham State and MCLA will face off in the elimination game at 11 am tomorrow held at Alumni Park in Bridgewater, Mass.
In the quarterfinal between the second-seeded MCLA Trailblazers and Worcester State, the Lancers recieved a two out double from Hayley Terry in the top of the ninth innings in leading them past the Trailblazers 3-1 in the quarterfinal round.
The Lancers are now 13-20 while MCLA is 13-16 overall.
MCLA jumped ahead 1-0 as they took advantage of some Lancer miscues in the second inning. Sam Barbarotta reached with one out on an infield error and moved up a base on Abby Lucas' single. Jenn Sicinski hit a liner to second that was misplayed and allowed Barbarotta to score for a 1-0 advantage. That play put runners at second and third, but Lancer Kayla Humphrey induced a shallow flyout and a groundout to avoid further damage.
Humphrey would cruise from there and at one point retired thirteen straight Trailblazers. The Lancers would put runners on off MCLA starter Rachel Quackenbush, however they couldn't score the equalizer until the sixth inning.
Terry singled and moved up on a wild pitch to lead off the sixth.
Quackenbush retired the next two Lancers, but then allowed a MacKenzie Crumley RBI single to knot the score at 1-1.
Neither team would muster much offense until the ninth inning as Worcester finally got the hit they were searching for. Jillian Witkowski led off with an infield single and when Taylor Hanley struck out, she stole second bringing the top of the order to the plate. Quackenbush would retire Courtney Salisbury, who had three hits in the game, but then Katie Storro hit an infield single putting runners on the corners for Terry. Storro would steal second and then Terry would blast a double off the center field wall scoring both runs and giving the Lancers a 3-1 advantage.
MCLA would get a leadoff hit in the 9th, however Humphrey would retire the next three batters to secure the win.
Senior right-hander Amber White hurled a four-hit shutout to lead the Bears (27-12) to the win. White (20-3) recorded ten strikeouts including the 400th of her BSU career and the 500th of her collegiate career. She also set the Bears' single-season record with her 14th shutout.
The Bears pushed across five runs in the bottom of the first as each of the first five batters of the frame reached safely and eventually scored. Back-to-back bunt singles by Jill Welch and Jocelyn Bettencourt followed by a wild pitch put runners on second and third with nobody out.
An infield hit by Tara McCann plated Welch and Jessica Laudati followed with a single to load the bases. Jennifer Galavotti then rifled a triple to deep centerfield to clear the bases and give BSU the 4-0 lead. One batter later, Galavotti would come around to score the fifth run of the inning on a ground out.
Bridgewater made it a 6-0 game on McCann's RBI double in the fourth. Courtney Leddy (Saugus, Mass.) led off the frame with a base hit, moved to second on a passed ball and scored on the double by McCann.
Welch paced the BSU offense as she went 3-for-4 at the plate. McCann (2-for-4) and Galavotti (2-for-3) also finished with two hits apiece as did Samantha LoPilato who singled twice in three at bats.
Alexandra Ferri gave up five runs in the loss for the Rams. Ferri (8-4) was unable to escape the first inning as all five batters she faced scored. Andrea Smith pitched well in relief as she allowed just one unearned run on seven hits over six inning. Smith, who fanned four, also went 2-for-3 at the plate.