Beacons capture first-ever LEC Tournament victory

Box Score

The UMass Boston softball team rallied for four runs in the bottom of the sixth inning for a come from behind 4-2 win over Plymouth State Friday evening at Westside Field, and advances to play at 4:00pm on Friday afternoon. The win was the Beacons first-ever LEC tournament game victory and keeps their 2011 season alive while the Panthers were eliminated with the loss.

UMass Boston's Katie Corey (Weymouth, MA) and Plymouth State's Amber White (Middleboro, MA) were both perfect through the first two innings.

In the top of the third, Plymouth State's Denise Freitas (Sanford, ME) doubled with two outs and scored on an RBI single by Heather Blase (Milford, NH) for the game's first run. A single by Jenn Bove (Medford, MA) put runners at first and third with two outs, but the inning ended on a grounder to the pitcher.

UMass Boston went down in order again in the bottom of the third, and Plymouth State extended its lead to 2-0 when Kortney Nedeau homered to right center leading off the inning. The next three Panther batters went quietly, and when UMass Boston again failed to generate any offense in the bottom of the inning, Plymouth State led 2-0 after four innings of play.

In the top of the fifth, Plymouth State missed a golden opportunity to score when Freitas hit a one-out triple down the right field line. The next batter, Blase, hit a soft grounder just in front of home plate that was fielded by the UMass Boston catcher, Sue Killilea (Abington, MA). Instead of throwing to first, Killilea surprised Freitas by turning and gunning the ball to third, where Freitas was tagged out diving back to the bag. The next PSU batter lined out to left field, and the Panthers came away empty handed.

The UMass Boston bats remained silent in the bottom of the fifth, and Plymouth State returned the favor by going quietly in the top of the sixth inning.

Four runs on four hits and an error proved to be the difference in the game in UMass Boston's half of the sixth inning. After a ground-out to third, Killilea singled to left, Christina Polsonetti (Revere, MA) singled up the middle, and Maria Nasta (Andover, MA) hit an RBI single that scored Killiliea for the Beacon's first run. After Nasta stole second, Erika Vecchiet (Pequannock, NJ) was safe on a fielder's choice to load the bases. Taryn Asta (Marshfield, MA) then hit a two-run double, and UMass Boston had its first lead of the day, 3-2. A grounder to first scored Vecchiet from third, and even though a grounder to the pitcher ended the rally, UMass Boston had taken a 4-2 lead with one inning to play.

In the top of the seventh, Corey struck out two of the three Plymouth State batters she faced to close out the 4-2 victory.

With its first ever Little East Conference tournament win, UMass Boston improves to 24-14 on the season and stays alive in the double-elimination tournament with a 4:00pm game on Friday afternoon. Plymouth State's season ends with an overall record of 17-22.

*Release content provided courtest of WCSU Sports Information.