Box Score DARTMOUTH, Mass. – Roger Williams senior Meghan Maliga (Suffield, Conn.) launched a two-run home run and pitched a complete game, providing enough spark to lift the Hawks over UMass Dartmouth softball on Wednesday by a 2-0 score.
Maliga provided the only runs needed in the second inning, connecting to put a ball over the left field fence and drive in junior Alicia McCauley (North Reading, Mass.) for two RBI. She also tossed all seven innings in the circle, picking up her third win of the season while striking out five Corsair batters and scattering only three hits.
UMass Dartmouth received hits from freshman Maddie O'Gryzek (Norfolk, Mass.) and juniors Abby Tremblay (New Bedford, Mass.) and Marissa Spinuzzi (Fair Lawn, N.J.) on the day. Senior Shannon Orton (Swansea, Mass.) pitched four innings in relief to hold off any more Hawk runs, allowing only two hits while fanning five.
Neither team could put a runner on base in the first inning before Maliga's long ball. She then got the first three Corsair batters in the bottom of the second to ground out. UMass Dartmouth was able to put runners in scoring position in the third, with Tremblay registering a single up the middle and advancing Emily Colton (Kingston, Mass.), but O'Gryzek's long fly to center field found the glove of RWU's Taylor Messier (Cranston, R.I.) for the third out.
The Hawks again challenged in the fifth, knocking both of the only two hits permitted by Orton. Senior Veronica Alicea (Trumbull, Conn.) and Messier each dropped infield singles before a ground-out to Colton ended the frame.
Spinuzzi blasted a ball through the left side in the next Corsair at-bat, eventually stealing third with Orton on first to signal another scoring opportunity until Maliga fanned Gracie Trudeau (Darmouth, Mass.) for the final out.
UMass Dartmouth would not let Maliga off easy in the seventh, though, as Colton walked followed by a rocket up the middle off the bat of O'Gryzek. Freshman Jill Miller (Freetown, Mass.) then fouled off numerous pitches, battling at the plate until Maliga was able to put one by and get a game-ending strikeout.
Sophomore Hannah Smith (Attleboro, Mass.) picked up only her first loss of the season, dropping to 7-1 in the circle while allowing just the Maliga homer in three innings of work, striking out one Hawk.
The Corsairs remain at home next Tuesday, squaring off with Framingham State for two games beginning at 3:30 p.m. The Hawks will begin Commonwealth Coast Conference play in a week, hosting nearby Salve Regina on March 30 for a doubleheader at 3 p.m.
