Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 WORCESTER, Mass. – The bats were hot early, but WPI's comeback efforts were too much to handle as UMass Dartmouth (21-10) softball dropped a pair of games to the Engineers (27-5) at Rooftop Field on Monday.
WPI 5, Corsairs 4
The Corsairs sent home three runs in the first two innings to jump out to an early lead, but WPI laced a walk-off sacrifice fly in the bottom of the seventh to break the 4-4 tie and secure a victory in game one.
Freshman Jill Miller (Freetown, Mass.) went 3-for-4 to lead UMass Dartmouth, driving in one run. Sophomore Emily Colton (Kingstown, Mass.) and senior Shannon Orton (Swansea, Mass.) both generated 2-for-4 days as Orton was credited with an RBI.
The visitors were able to put the hits down right away in the top of the first. Colton and junior Gracie Trudeau (Dartmouth, Mass.) opened up with singles, and Colton reached home on the bat of Marissa Spinuzzi (Fair Lawn, N.J.), who drove a ball to left field.
WPI connected for just one hit in its first at-bat, and UMass Dartmouth picked right up where it left off. With two outs, Colton advanced junior Adi Alicea-Cordero (Dorchester, Mass.) to third on a single to right field. Trudeau then immediately followed with another deep single to plate Alicea-Cordero. The next batter, Miller, generated her first hit to send home Colton and give the Corsairs the 3-0 advantage.
The Engineers gained a run back off a wild pitch in the third before finding a groove in the fifth. Leading off the frame, Orton drove home Miller on a deep single to center field, forcing a WPI pitching change before the hosts got out of the inning. Freshman Caraline Wood (Averill Park, N.Y.) then gave her squad some offense with a two-run homer in the bottom of the fifth and cut the deficit to just one run.
Pitcher Caroline Medino (Pompton Lakes, N.J.) sat the first three UMass Dartmouth batters in the sixth, and WPI erased the lead in their turn at the plate as sophomore Nina Murphy-Cook (Roseville, Calif.) sent home classmate Natalie Fabrizio (Hampstead, N.H.) on a single.
After UMass Dartmouth stranded a runner in the seventh, Wood was the only runner WPI needed, reaching base on a hit and advancing to third on an error before Renee LeClaire (Merrimack, N.H.) knocked a sacrifice fly deep enough to score her teammate.
Medino gathered the win in relief, allowing just one hit in 3.3 innings while fanning three. Sophomore Hannah Smith (Attleboro, Mass.) slipped to 11-5 on the year, surrendering eight hits and four earned runs while striking out two.
WPI 6, Corsairs 0
UMass Dartmouth was able to generate just two hits off WPI's Kelsey Saucier (Worcester, Mass.) in game two, as the host's ace struck out nine and walked just one Corsair and rise to 7-3 in the circle.
The Engineers collected two runs right away, as Ama Biney (Worcester, Mass.) and Lindsay Gurska (Revere, Mass.) each generated RBI hits. Two defensive errors in the third inning led to another WPI score as the hosts went up 3-0.
After a 4-3 double play ended another WPI scoring threat in the fourth inning and an uneventful fifth, UMass Dartmouth was finally able to post its first hit of the game in the sixth. Freshman Briana Flaherty (Franklin, Mass.) drove a ball to center field, but the Engineers were able to strand the runner with ground-outs.
WPI tacked on three more runs on as many hits in the sixth. Trudeau registered a hit as the lead-off hitter in the Corsairs' last chance in the seventh, but Saucier and the Engineer defense got the job done to leave just one runner on base.
Orton took the loss, striking out three and walking two as only four runs were earned. Biney was the contest's top hitter, going 3-for-4 with 2 RBI and a double. Three other Engineers were also credited with RBIs.
UMass Dartmouth is right back at it tomorrow, traveling to Rhode Island College for a conference doubleheader starting at 5 p.m. The Corsairs are aiming to avoid an LEC sweep, as they have either swept or split with every other league opponent this season.
