Strong Pitching and Timely Hitting Earn Corsairs Doubleheader Sweep Over Plymouth State

DARTMOUTH, Mass. - 5th-year senior Jill Richards tossed a complete-game shutout in game one, and sophomore Hailey Lyons blasted a clutch, pinch-hit, solo home run in game two, to earn the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth softball team a sweep over Plymouth State, 3-0 and 4-3, in its Little East Conference (LEC) opener Saturday afternoon.

The Corsairs improve to 14-4-1 (2-0 LEC), while the Panthers drop to 6-10 (0-2 LEC) as the teams begin their conference schedules.

GAME ONE - W, 3-0
Richards went the full seven innings and kept Plymouth State scoreless on five hits with four strikeouts to improve to 7-2 on the year.

5th-year senior Leah Major finished 2-for-3 at the dish with an RBI triple. Richards helped her case with an RBI single, and senior Averi Soares knocked in a run with an RBI groundout.

Both sides were bringing it in the circle. It took until the third for UMass Dartmouth to get on the scoreboard. Freshman Kinu Takasugi led the inning with a double to center field and would eventually advance to third. Soares then made it a 1-0 game with a groundout to second to score Takasugi.

The final two runs of the game came in the bottom of the fifth. Junior Victoria Rossetti knocked a leadoff double over the head of the left fielder and took third on a sacrifice bunt. Major then laced one to the right-center gap for her first triple of the season to bring in Rossetti. With major on third, Richards singled and made it a 3-0 ballgame.

Richards was dominant in the circle, she went 1-2-3 in the second and third innings, and the most batters she faced was five in the sixth.

GAME TWO - W, 4-3
Trailing 2-1 in the fifth, Head Coach Amy Sasin brought in Lyons to pinch hit, and Lyons sent her first-career home run over the left-field fence to even the score and put all of the momentum on UMass Dartmouth's side.

Pitcher Kaitlyn Shirshac earned her seventh win of the year. The sophomore struck out nine over six innings and did not allow an earned run over seven hits. Richards threw the seventh and picked up her first save of the year.

UMass Dartmouth took a 1-0 lead in the third when Major doubled to right center to score Soares, who reached on an error earlier in the inning. 

Plymouth State wasted no time to take its first lead of the day in the fourth. A leadoff single and an error put a runner in scoring position. An RBI double and an RBI single quickly made it a 2-1 Panther advantage.

Lyons was called-on to pinch hit to leadoff the fifth and made an immediate impact with a long ball to even the score at two. The Corsairs rode that momentum as back-to-back singles from Soares and Major led to another base knock by Richards, to make it a 4-2 ballgame.

The third run for Plymouth came on a throwing error in the seventh, but Richards shut the door with a strikeout to end it.

UP NEXT
The Corsairs have a date with No. 8 Eastern Connecticut State on Tuesday at 3:30 and 5:30 p.m. at the Dartmouth Softball Park.