DARTMOUTH, Mass. -Â A walk-off win in game one and seven unanswered runs in game two was what it took for the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth softball team to earn a sweep over Wheaton College in the home opener.
The Corsairs won 6-5 in nine innings and 7-3 to improve to 12-2-1 on the year, while the Lyons drop to 4-6 this season.
GAME ONE
UMass Dartmouth took a 4-0 lead in the third and allowed Wheaton to even the score in the seventh to force extra innings, but strong pitching in extras led to a 6-5 victory.
5th-year senior pitcher
Jill Richards advanced her record to 6-1 on the year. She gave up three earned over nine innings with four strikeouts and walked one batter. 5th-year senior
Leah Major drove in three runs, while Richards finished with two RBI to help herself.
For Wheaton, freshman Juliette Zito went 2-for-5 with two RBI, senior Katelyn Barton was 3-for-4 with one RBI, and sophomore Bryanna Agan sent home one run.
UMass Dartmouth plated four runs in the third. junior
Victoria Rossetti started a string of four-consecutive singles for the Corsairs. Junior
Lynsie Miracle and freshman
Kinu Takasugi loaded the bases for Major, who hit a base knock to right-center to bring home two runs. Later in the inning it was Richards who singled to left, scoring two more to make it 4-0 Corsairs.
Richards breezed through the first four innings in the circle, but Wheaton began to pull its way back into it with an RBI single in the fifth, an RBI double in the sixth, another RBI base hit in the seventh, and the tying run scored on an error in the seventh to send it to extras.
With a runner on second to begin extras, each team plated a run in the eighth to move the game to the ninth. Richards picked up a big strikeout and forced a flyout in the top of the ninth to keep it tied heading to the bottom of the inning. Freshman
Larissa Piessens then sacrifice bunted freshman
Sadie Keefe to third, and Keefe scored on a throwing error to win the game.
GAME TWO
After falling behind 3-0 in the first, the Corsairs scored seven unanswered runs to come away with a 7-3 victory in game two.
Sophomore
Kaitlyn Shirshac threw a complete game with four strikeouts and three runs allowed to improve to 6-0 on the year. Richards crushed a three-run home run for her second of the year, senior
Averi Soares finished 2-for-2 with an RBI, a run scored, a stolen base and a walk, and Rossetti drove in a run as well.
Wheaton produced its only three runs of the game in the first inning with five-straight base hits. Takasugi made it 3-1 in the bottom of the inning when she walked, stole second, moved to third on a wild pitch, and scored on an error.
The Corsairs scored six runs in the third to put the game away. Soares singled to right to bring home Major and put two on base. Richards then stepped up to the plate and sent a three-run homer over the left-field fence to take a 5-3 lead. Rossetti drove in one more with a double and later scored on a wild pitch to bring the score to its final.
Shirshac kept the Lyons scoreless for the remainder of the game to earn the win.
UP NEXT
UMass Dartmouth travels to Babson on Thursday for a doubleheader at 3 and 5 p.m.
