Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 FORT MYERS, Fla. – Freshman Briana Flaherty (Franklin, Mass.) went 4-for-6 at the plate and classmate Maddie O'Gryzek (Norfolk, Mass.) ripped an inside-the-park home run as the Corsairs split on the final day of their schedule at the Gene Cusic Collegiate Classic, falling 5-4 to the College of Wooster and prevailing 6-4 over Wisconsin-Superior.
The Corsairs close their spring break trip with a 12-2 record, the best start to a season since 1996. Four players return to New England with .400-plus batting averages, with freshman Jill Miller (Freetown, Mass.) pacing the squad at .581.
Wooster 5, Corsairs 4
Despite pounding out four runs in the top of the seventh to nearly orchestrate a comeback, UMass Dartmouth couldn't quite overcome Wooster's five-run sixth inning, ultimately falling by just one run.
Flaherty dropped down two hits on three at-bats, and sophomore Emily Colton (Kingston, Mass.) went 2-for-4 including an RBI double. The game remained scoreless until the bottom of the sixth, as the Corsairs fought against a quality outing from Wooster pitcher Maddy Chase (Pleasant Prairie, Wis.), who went all seven innings with three earned runs on seven hits, striking out six.
Senior Shannon Orton (Swansea, Mass.) and the defense sat the first three Scot batters in each of the first three frames. Flaherty registered the lone single for UMass Dartmouth until the fifth, when senior Rachel Carey (Holbrook, Mass.) and junior Abby Tremblay (New Bedford, Mass.) reached base on singles. The squads then traded three-up, three-down tries until the Scots came to bat in the sixth.
Four of the first five Wooster batters connected for hits to begin the frame. Five runs scored on six hits before the inning would close, with Chelsea Copley (Bidwell, Ohio) belting a two-RBI ground-rule double to left field.
The Corsairs rebounded in kind in their last chance at the plate, as Flaherty again connected to drive in junior Marissa Spinuzzi (Fair Lawn, N.J.) in the first two at-bats. Wooster then cashed in two outs, but UMass Dartmouth remained aggressive as Colton drilled a hit down the left field line, scoring Rachelle Bator (Farmington, Maine). O'Gryzek's hard-hit single to shortstop plated both Colton and Adi Alicea-Cordero (Dorchester, Mass.) following an errant Wooster throw. Despite having the tying run in place, Chase was able to get Spinuzzi to pop up for the final out.
Orton took the loss with 5.1 innings in the circle, scattering six hits and fanning two. Sophomore Hannah Smith (Attleboro, Mass.) collected one strikeout in two-thirds of an inning of relief.
Corsairs 6, Wisconsin-Superior 4
A three-run sixth inning comprised of O'Gryzek's inside-the-park homer was enough to hold off a countering three-run seventh from Wis.-Superior in game two and end the Corsairs' Florida trip on a high note.
The UMass Dartmouth bats laid down 13 hits, with four different Corsairs registering multiple dingers. Spinuzzi, Flaherty and Tremblay each went 2-for-3, with Spinuzzi driving in an RBI. Smith rose to 7-0 in the circle, winning all of her Florida starts with a six-hit, two strikeout complete game.
Junior Gracie Trudeau's (Dartmouth, Mass.) single in the second plated Spinuzzi for the game's first run, and the Yellow Jackets tied the score in the top of the fifth. The Corsairs then picked up five hits in their turn at the plate, with Spinuzzi and Orton each collecting RBIs in the two-run frame.
After UMass Dartmouth faced just four batters in the top of the seventh, O'Gryzek blasted a grounder toward the Yellow Jacket shortstop, who couldn't contain the ball as it bounced to the outfield. Carey scored from second and Tremblay hustled in from first, with O'Gryzek flying around the diamond to clear the bases.
Wis.-Superior wasn't done, though, putting up its best inning of the game in the top of the seventh with three runs. Two came off Kari Shipman's (Detroit Lakes, Minn.) rip down the left field line, but Smith struck out Katie White (Pequot Lakes, Minn.) on three-straight pitches to close the door.
White took the loss, fanning three, with six different Yellow Jackets recording hits. Shipman and senior Brittany Thomfohrda (Cushing, Wis.) drove in two runs apiece.
UMass Dartmouth will play its first home game next Wednesday, meeting Roger Williams on the newly refurbished Corsair Softball Field at 4 p.m.