Softball Splits Twinbill with UMass Boston

BOSTON, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University softball team split a non-conference doubleheader with host UMass Boston on Friday afternoon.  The Bears (7-7) won the first game, 6-0, while the Beacons (3-6) earned the split of the twinbill with a 10-8 victory in the nightcap.

Bridgewater State 6, UMass Boston 0

BSU senior Amber White (Middleboro, Mass.) tossed a three-hitter in the opener to record her fourth shutout of the season.  White walked three and fanned a season-high nine batters. She became just the fifth pitcher in Bridgewater State softball history to record 300 strikeouts in a BSU uniform.

The Bears banged out 13 hits with senior catcher Jill Welch (Hubbardston, Mass.) and freshman third baseman Tara McCann (Fall River, Mass.) leading the way with three hits apiece.  Welch went 3-for-3 and scored a run, while McCann went 3-for-4 with a run and an RBI.

Junior center fielder Jessica Laudati (Berkley, Mass.) rapped a pair of doubles in four at bats, scored a run and drove in one, while freshman right fielder Kelly McCarthy (Burlington, Mass.) added a two-run double.

Bridgewater State broke through for three runs in the fourth inning when they registered three hits and a walk off of UMass Boston starter Emily Gray (New Bedford, Mass.). After Gray got the leadoff hitter, Laudati doubled and came in to score on a McCann RBI single. Three batters later with runners on second and third, Galavotti knocked in both runners with a base hit to make it 3-0.

Gray allowed 13 hits and six runs, five earned, over seven innings, while striking out a season-high four batters.

McCarthy put the game out of reach in the top of the seventh inning, as she roped a double into the left-field corner that scored two Bears to push the lead to 5-0. Laudati followed with an RBI double of her own to make it 6-0 in favor of the road team.

UMass Boston 10, Bridgewater State 8

After building leads of 5-0 and 10-4, the Beacons barely held off a late rally from Bridgewater State to earn a 10-8 victory in game two.

Freshman first baseman Lauren Mitsairis (Taunton, Mass.)  finished the contest 2-for-3 with five RBI, while Toni Scola (Worcester, Mass.), Gia Raczkowski (Stoneham, Mass.), Erika Vecchiet (Pequannock, N.J.) and Kaitlyn Morse (Arlington, Mass.) all joined her with two hits apiece.

Michelle Zullo (Everett, Mass.) picked up the victory for the Beacons by allowing five hits and one earned run over four innings.

After Zullo kept the Bears off the board in the first, UMass Boston took their first lead when Vecchiet struck for the first of four Beacons doubles in the contest. With Morse on second after an infield single and a sacrifice bunt, Vecchiet drilled a line drive just over the third baseman's glove and into left field, to give UMass Boston a 1-0 lead.

UMass Boston exploded for four more runs in the third inning behind five hits and one BSU error.

Morse led off the inning with a triple to right-center field and came into score when the Bears' second baseman couldn't handle a Kristina Bove (Medford, Mass.) pop-up. Vecchiet followed with a single to put runners on first and third, before Hemstock picked up her first hit of the season with an RBI single through the left-side to make it 3-0 Beacons. With two outs and both runners in scoring position, Mitsiaris dumped a single down the right-field line to easily score both runners to make it 5-0 Beacons after three innings of play.

Bridgewater State responded back with one run in the fourth off Zullo and three more off Jillian Shepherd (Norwood, Mass.) in the fifth. The freshman reliever allowed an RBI single to Laudati, before freshman DP Jennifer Galavotti (Marion, Mass.) tattooed a home run over the left-center field fence to cut the Beacons' lead to 5-4.

UMass Boston's bats pushed the lead back to four in the bottom of the inning, as Rackowski and Lyndsey Capra (Lowell, Mass.) each recorded RBI doubles and Mitsiaris added a sacrifice fly to make it 8-4 after five.

The Beacons added two more insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth when Vecchiet and Hemstock both came around to score on a Mitsiaris single down the right-field line.

UMass Boston's two runs came in handy, as Bridgewater sent nine runners to the plate in the top of the seventh and left the tying run on second base after scoring four runs.  A bases loaded walk to Corrie McCue (New Bedford, Mass.) and a Jocelyn Bettencourt (Plymouth, Mass.) RBI single accounted for two of the four runs, while the Bears were also aided by three Beacon errors in the frame.  With the deficit cut to 10-8 and runners on second and third with two outs, sophomore Karissa Pagan (Brockton, Mass.) lined out to Shepherd in the circle to help the Beacons survive the rally.

Galavotti paced the Bears in game two as she went 3-for-4 with two runs and two RBI. Bettencourt finished 2-for-5 with a run, while McCann went 2-for-4 with a run and an RBI. Bridgewater banged out 12 hits in the contest.

Both teams open conference play on Saturday morning with doubleheaders.  UMass Boston travels to Little East Conference rival Rhode Island College to take on the Anchorwomen at 11:30, while Bridgewater State entertains Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference foe Framingham State University at 11.

Notes: White, who has fanned exactly 300 batters since joining the BSU softball team in 2012, also struck out 100 batters as a freshman with Plymouth State in 2011 bringing her career total to 400.