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Box Score 2 BOSTON, Mass.—A pair of huge final innings allowed host Keene State College to cut both games short Friday afternoon, as UMass Boston softball saw their losing streak extend to eight games on the penultimate day of the regular season.
THE BASICS
Game One: Keene State 11, UMass Boston 1 (5 Innings)
Game Two: Keene State 11, UMass Boston 3 (6 Innings)
(UMass Boston 18-16, Little East 5-7)
(Keene State College 19-13, Little East 10-2)
HOW IT HAPPENED
Keene State's offense went off for 11 runs in both games and 23 total hits, while Mariah Crisp and Molly St. Germain held the Beacons to just four runs on eight hits in 11 innings.
While the first contest was a blowout, UMass Boston looked primed for an upset, until the final two innings of game two.
GAME ONE
After UMass Boston scored the opening run on Crisp, the Owls scored the final 11 runs in the game to earn the mercy-rule victory.
Crisp improved to 12-6, as the top pitcher in the LEC allowed just four hits and one run, while striking out seven. At the plate, Morgan Fallon and Jen Galavotti combined to go 3-for-5 with three runs and seven RBI in the contest.
Junior Lauren Mitsiaris (Taunton, Mass.) and Roxanne Vento (Arlington, Mass.) accounted for the Beacons' lone run in the contest. In the top of the first, Vento put down a bunt single and easily came home to score on Mitsiaris' double to left field-that just missed clearing the wall.
In the circle, Annie Thomas (Lunenburg, Mass.) did not complete one of her starts for just the second time all season. Thomas was charged with seven hits, six runs and five earned in four innings of work.
After the Beacons took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, Keene State responded with three runs in the bottom half, on a Galavotti three-run, two-out homer.
Thomas stranded the bases loaded in the second and kept Keene State off the board in the third, but the Owls broke through for two more runs in the fourth.
With the bases loaded and one out, Fallon hit a sacrifice fly to make it 4-1 and Kayla Votto stole home on a delayed double steal.
The Owls put the game away with a six-run fifth. Olivia Indorf led off the inning with a solo homer and Fallon hit a walk-off three run homer.
GAME TWO
The second contest was much closer, with the Beacons leading or tied for most of the game.
Galavotti was once again the thorn in the Beacons side, as the designated player tacked on five more RBI, in addition to two hits and a run scored in game two.
Crisp was pulled after giving up two hits and two earned runs through two innings. Out of the bullpen though, St. Germain had very few problems, as she limited the Beacons to two hits and an earned run in six innings of work.
Freshman Taylor Pawlina (Woonsocket, R.I.) led the Beacons with a pair of RBI, while Mitsiaris added a run scored and an RBI.
Freshman Vic Zechello (Westborough, Mass.) kept the Beacons in the game for the first five innings, but was eventually tagged for 11 hits and nine earned runs in 5.2 innings.
Keene State stuck first in game two, but Zechello did a good job to keep the deficit at two. With two runs already in and the bases loaded, Zechello got a fly out to right and a groundout to second to keep the Owls from adding any further damage.
UMass Boston evened the score in the next half inning. After a pair of walks and an Alyssa Tulley (Lowell, Mass.) bunt single, Pawlina drove a single to center to plate Mitsiaris and Alexa St. Angelo (Cranston, R.I.).
The Beacons grabbed their only lead of the game in the third.
Gia Raczkowski (Stoneham, Mass.) led off the inning with a double and moved to third on a Vento bunt single. Mitsiaris nearly drove in both runners, but a nice stop by the second baseman kept the score at 3-2, on the RBI groundout.
Keene State finally got to Zechello in the fifth inning, after the freshman had retired eight-straight from the second to the fifth. The Owls hit three consecutive doubles in the fifth, but were held to just the one run; as Kaitlyn Morse (Arlington, Mass.) threw out Heather Pelletier who tried to stretch her double into a triple.
The Owls put the game away with an eight-run sixth inning-that turned on a disputed call at home. With the bases loaded and one out, Kayla Votto hit a soft roller down the third-base line, that Tulley fielded and threw home. UMass Boston was convinced that the throw beat the runner coming home, but the umpire ruled she was safe.
That call proved crucial, as the next batter hit a long fly to the warning track that Pawlina made a great catch on, for what could have been the third out of the inning.
Instead with two outs and two runs already in, Keene State followed with a single, a three-run homer from Jen Galavotti and a walk-off two-run homer from Shae Crosby.
BY THE NUMBERS
- With the sweep, Keene State College improved to 37-2 all-time against the Beacons.
- UMass Boston now sits in fifth place in the Little East Conference with two games left in the regular season. The Beacons can make the six-team LEC Tournament in one of two ways: 1. Win at least one game against Plymouth State University. 2. Rhode Island College wins at least one game against Eastern Connecticut State University on Saturday.
- Keene State finished with five home runs on the day.
WHO'S NEXT
UMass Boston will host Plymouth State University on Saturday for Senior Day. The first game of the potential win-or-go home series will start at 1 p.m., with the Beacosn honoring seniors Kristina Bove (Medford, Mass.) and Kelsey Cruse (Worcester, Mass.) after the conclusion of game two.
