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Box Score 2
BOSTON, Mass.—Facing a win or go home game in their regular-season finale, UMass Boston softball scored three runs in the bottom of the fifth to break open a 6-6 game and secure a spot in the Little East Conference Tournament for the first time since 2013.
THE BASICS
GM1: Plymouth State University 4, UMass Boston 3
GM2: UMass Boston 9, Plymouth State 7
(UMass Boston 19-17, UMass Boston 6-8)
(Plymouth State 17-23, Plymouth State 5-9)
HOW IT HAPPENED
Needing just one win to wrap up a playoff spot for the first time in three years, UMass Boston dropped a tight game one (4-3) to put their backs against the walls. With both teams needing a win to earn a playoff spot, UMass Boston jumped out to leads of 5-0, 6-5 and 9-7, to snap their nine-game losing streak and extend their season.
UMass Boston honored seniors Kristina Bove (Medford, Mass.) and Kelsey Cruse (Worcester, Mass.) after the conclusion of game number two.
With the victory, UMass Boston earned the fifth seed in the Little East Conference Tournament and will travel to second-seeded UMass Dartmouth on Tuesday at a time to be announced. The rest of the tournament will be hosted by top-seeded Keene State College starting on Friday.
GAME ONE
After falling behind 4-0 through two innings, UMass Boston nearly came all the way back, in a 4-3 conference loss.
Senior ace Whitney Roberts kept her team's playoff hopes alive, as she allowed just six hits and one earned run in seven innings of work for the Panthers.
Freshman Lindsay Hall led the Panthers with a pair of runs batted in, while Abrie Davis added an RBI and paced the team with two of Plymouth State's six hits.
In the circle for UMass Boston, freshman Annie Thomas (Lunenburg, Mass.) kept the Beacons in the game the whole way. She allowed six hits and four earned runs, while striking out four.
Junior Kaitlyn Morse (Arlington, Mass.) had a huge contest in game one for UMass Boston. The lead-off hitter went 3-for-4 with a run and two RBI, and finished a triple shy of the cycle.
Freshman Taylor Pawlina (Woonsocket, R.I.) was the only other Beacon to finish with multiple hits, as she went 2-for-3 with a run scored and an RBI.
Plymouth State scored two runs in the top of the first and two in the top of the second, all with two down.
In the top of the first, Katie Kennard started the rally with a single and then Julia Royer and Abrie Davis followed with back-to-back RBI singles.
Hall made it 4-0 in the second inning, as she easily drove in a pair of baserunners, with a two-out, two-run triple into the right-center field gap.
Plymouth State would put runners on base in the third, fourth and fifth, but Thomas worked her way out of trouble to keep the score at 4-0.
UMass Boston finally was able to put together some offense, when the Panthers replaced Roberts in the circle to start the sixth inning. After Roberts had allowed just one hit and one walk in the first five innings, Allison Moylan came on to start the sixth.
Pawlina greeted her with a single into right field and Morse followed with her first collegiate home run-a two-run homer over the left-field fence.
Roberts came right back out to replace Moylan and limited the Beacons to a single hit to end the sixth.
UMass Boston nearly earned the win they needed in the seventh inning, as the Beacons finally put together something against Roberts.
With one out, Taylor Marcotte (Agawam, Mass.) came on to pinch hit and reached first on a single through the left side. Fellow freshman Alyssa Tulley (Lowell, Mass.) tacked on another single and Pawlina cut the deficit to 4-3 with an RBI single up the middle. UMass Boston loaded the bases on a Morse bunt single, but Roberts closed out the game with back-to-back groundouts.
GAME TWO
With both teams desperate for a win in game two, UMass Boston would force the Panthers to play from behind, as UMass Boston jumped out early and never trailed in their playoff-clinching victory.
Vento paced the Beacons' attack with two hits, a run scored and three RBI, while Tulley and Marcotte both added a hit and two RBI in the victory. Each of the first four batters in the Beacons' lineup had two hits and at least one run scored, as UMass Boston reached double-digits in hits (12) for just the fourth time in their last 10 games.
Freshman pitcher Vic Zechello (Westborough, Mass.) and Thomas combined to limit the Panthers to 10 hits and seven runs in the win. Thomas struck out five in four innings, while Zechello picked up the win by allowing three hits and one earned run over the final three innings of work.
Roberts was the tough-luck loser, as the senior's final collegiate appearance ended after four plus innings. She was charged with nine hits and eight runs, five of them earned. Moylan came on out of the pen once again, and gave up three hits and one unearned run in two innings.
Kennard and Davis each finished with two RBI in game two for Plymouth State.
After a one-two-three top of the first, UMass Boston struck for four runs in the bottom half of the inning on three hits and an error.
Morse led off the inning with a single and the Beacons caught a break when the Panthers committed an error on a sacrifice bunt attempt. With two on and one out, Vento put the Beacons on the scoreboard with a two-run single up the middle. Two batters later,
Alexa St. Angelo (Cranston, R.I.) tacked on a third run, as her RBI single up the middle easily scored pinch runner
Kayla Harris (Cumberland, Maine.). UMass Boston added a fourth run, as Tulley's deep drive to center resulted in a sacrifice fly, with
Lauren Mitsiaris (Taunton, Mass.) scoring.
In the second inning, UMass Boston scratched across a fifth run, as Morse and Bove both singled, and moved up to second and third on a wild pitch. With one out and two on, Gia Rackowski (Stoneham, Mass.) hit a sacrifice fly to plate Morse, but the Panthers caught Bove off second for an inning-ending double play.
Plymouth State wouldn't go down with a huge fight though, as they answered back with five runs on five hits in the top of the third. In the inning, Nina Murray, Royer and Davis all came through with RBI singles.
The Beacons had a response of their own though, as St. Angelo doubled and Tulley drove her home with an RBI single to right field.
Back-and-forth they went, as Plymouth State evened the score at 6-6, as Kennard singled through the left side to easily score Debra Morrill.
With the game tied at 6-6 in the fifth, UMass Boston plated three runs to finally pull away from the Panthers. Raczkowski opened the inning with her first hit of the day and scored all the way from first, on Vento's RBI double to the center-field wall. With two runners on and two outs, Marcotte delivered the game-winning runs with a two-run double to right field to score Vento and St. Angelo.
Plymouth State mounted two final rallies, but they managed just one run and two left on base in the sixth, and stranded a pair of runners in the seventh.
BY THE NUMBERS
- UMass Boston snapped a pair of nine-game losing streaks with their game two win. UMass Boston had lost nine in a row overall this season, and nine-straight against Plymouth State dating back to 2012.
- With the split, UMass Boston improved to 7-34 all-time against the Panthers.
- Thomas tied the single-season program record for strikeouts with 125. She matched Courtney Haroules who struck out 125 batters in 2008.
- With their game two win, UMass Boston finishes the LEC Regular Season with their second-most wins in a single season (6-8). UMass Boston went 7-7 in 2011.
- Morse finished the day 5-for-8 with three runs scored and two RBI. She is now sitting on 99 career hits in 329 at-bats, as she raised her career average above .300 with the big day (.301).
WHO'S NEXT
UMass Boston and UMass Dartmouth will meet for the first-ever time in the Little East Conference Tournament. This will mark the first time that the two teams have ever made the LEC Tournament in the same year, in the 19-year history of the tournament.
