White Posts Pair of Shutouts as Softball Sweeps Fitchburg

FITCHBURG, Mass. -- Senior Amber White (Middleboro, Mass.) tossed a pair of shutouts to lead the visiting Bridgewater State University softball team to a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) doubleheader sweep of Fitchburg State University on Monday afternoon at Coolidge Park.

The Bears posted a 2-0 win in the opening contest before completing the sweep with a 1-0 victory in nine innings in game two.

Game One: Bridgewater State 2, Fitchburg State 0

In game one, White tossed a complete game two hitter en-route to the 2-0 victory. White yielded just two hits with one walk and four strikeouts.

Junior Brittany Whiting (Sharon, Mass.) pitched well in the setback for the Falcons, allowing two runs on three hits and five strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings of work.

Bridgewater threatened to break a 0-0 stalemate in the fourth inning but stranded a runner on third base. Fitchburg left a runner on third in the fifth. Whiting got a big strikeout to keep the game deadlocked in the fourth, while White induced a harmless ground ball back to the circle in the fifth.

The Bears broke the scoreless tie with two runs in the top of the sixth when they proceeded to load the bases on a pair of walks by juniors Jocelyn Bettencourt (Plymouth, Mass.) and Jessica Laudati (Berkley, Mass.) and a single off the bat of freshman Tara McCann (Fall River, Mass.). Freshman Jennifer Galavotti (Marion, Mass.) was hit by a pitch to plate Bettencourt, while sophomore Karissa Pagan (Brockton, Mass.) drew a walk to force in McCann, resulting in the 2-0 final.

For the Falcons, junior Amanda Whitelaw (Flemington, N.J.) finished 1-for-3 with a stolen base, while senior Ashley Forgues (Fitchburg, Mass.) collected the other hit for Fitchburg State on the afternoon. Bettencourt paced the Bears' offense going 1-for-3 with a walk and a run scored, while McCann added one hit and a run scored.

Game Two: Bridgewater State 1, Fitchburg State 0 (9 Inn.)

In game two, Bridgewater State received another outstanding performance in the circle as White allowed just four hits and recorded eight strikeouts in the complete game victory.

Senior Kerry Alcott (Groton, Mass.) was just as stellar for the Falcons, giving up just one earned run on six hits with ten K's in nine innings of work.

Bridgewater State threatened in the top of the fifth stanza as freshman Samantha LoPilato (Medford, Mass.) and classmate Courtney Leddy (Saugus, Mass.) singled, while Bettencourt reached on a fielder's choice to load the bases with one out. Falcons' leftfielder Brianna Uga (Everett, Mass.), however, made an outstanding play on a potential sacrifice fly by gunning down LoPilato at the plate.

The Falcons best chance came in the bottom of the eighth inning when junior Sabrina Schwartz (Ayer, Mass.) drew a one out walk and moved to second on sacrifice bunt from classmate Marissa Binnall (Fitchburg, Mass.). Forgues followed with a single up the middle, but the Bears' centerfielder Laudati fired a strike to the plate to cut down Schwartz who was trying to score from second.

The visitors would respond in the following frame as Laudati singled up middle, advanced to second on a base knock by Galavotti, and eventually scored on a base hit to centerfield off the bat of LoPilato for the 1-0 advantage.

That's all the support the Bears would need as White extended her shutout streak to 32 1/3 innings en-route to her 13th shutout on the season as she tied Tammy Webber's single-season school shutout record set in 1998. White also upped her BSU career shutout mark to 27.

At the dish, Laudati paced the Bears' game two offense with a pair of singles and one run scored, while LoPilato added to the mix with two hits and one RBI. Forgues and sophomore Marissa Gemma (Leominster, Mass.) led Fitchburg State offensively with one hit apiece, while Whitelaw and Uga collected the other two hits for the Falcons.

Fitchburg State (11-15, 5-7 MASCAC) returns to action on Wednesday as it hosts the Engineers of WPI for a double header starting at 3 p.m. Bridgewater State (23-11, 10-0 MASCAC) will host Mass. Maritime Academy on Thursday for a twin billing starting at 3:30 p.m. Unbeaten in conference play, the Bears have clinched at least a share of the program's 25th MASCAC regular season title.