KEENE, N.H.--#4 Western Connecticut State University used a pair of two-run homers and a strong outing from Alle Sabith to knock off #5 UMass Boston Softball 8-2 in the Little East Conference Championship Series.

THE BASICS

#4 Western Connecticut State 8, #5 UMass Boston 2

(UMass Boston 22-19)

(Western Connecticut 23-17)

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Beacons mounted a rally in the second to tie the game, but the Colonials scored two in the third and four in the fifth to end the best season in UMass Boston softball program history.

UMass Boston finished the season with their second-most wins (22), their second-most conference victories (six) and tripled their all-time wins in LEC postseason play with a 3-2 mark in the 2016 Little East Conference Tournament. The Beacons' also posted their first winning season since 2011 (24-15) and their sixth overall in the 35-year history of the program. 

The Colonials earned their first LEC Title since 2013 and fifth overall. Western Connecticut State will learn their NCAA Tournament draw on Monday morning.

Freshman pitcher Annie Thomas (Lunenburg, Mass.) kept the Beacons within striking distance for most of the game, despite an extremely tight strike zone. The freshman ace was charged with eight runs, four earned, while striking out one in six innings. With her six innings of work, Thomas passed Kara Willis ('12) for most innings throw in a single-season (166.2). Thomas pitched every inning of the Beacons' 2016 Tournament run.  

Freshman Taylor Marcotte (Agawam, Mass.) led the Beacons with a pair of hits and an RBI. Fellow freshman Alyssa Tulley (Lowell, Mass.) added a triple, a run scored and an RBI and Alexa St. Angelo (Cranston, R.I.) tacked on a hit and a run scored. 

The Colonials three and four hitters combined to go 5-for-7 with four runs scored, five RBI and a pair of home runs. The three-hole hitter, Erin Weber, was named the LEC Tournament Most Outstanding Player, after hitting the go-ahead, two-run homer in the third.

Staked to two early leads, Sabith allowed just five hits and two earned runs in seven innings of work. 

The Colonials raced out to a 2-0 early lead on a controversial call. After a pair of walks put runners at first and second, Michaela Roche singled up the middle for an RBI single. With runners at the corners and one down, Weber came home to score on a controversial decision. Thomas' pitch went all the way back to the backstop, but the Beacons argued that it went it was fouled off, instead of a wild pitch. In the end, the Colonials took a 2-0 lead, with the Beacons catching the trail runner at third base in a pickle.

UMass Boston came back to tie the game in the top of the second. With two down, St. Angelo singled to left and raced all the way home on Alyssa Tulley's triple, that landed between three Colonials in right-center field. Tulley would easily score on the next play, as Marcotte's slow grounder down the first-base line popped off the top of the first base bag and past the first baseman for a 2-2 tie.

After a scoreless third, the Colonials returned to their roots with the long ball. Alexandra LaFemina singled to lead-off the inning and then trotted home on Weber's two-run homer to left-center field.

Sabith continued to keep the Beacons off balance in the middle innings, as they managed just three base runners between the third and the fifth.

In the bottom of the fifth, the Colonials took advantage of three Beacons' errors to blow the game wide open.

After a throwing error extended the inning, Michaela Roche hit a homer off the top of the scoreboard in center to push the lead to 6-2 with two outs. Four batters later, Maegan Rodriguez blooped a single into shallow center to score two more runs. The inning would have kept going, if not for a tremendous defensive play by Kaitlyn Morse (Arlington, Mass.). The junior second baseman charged on a slow roller and her throw just beat the runner to keep the score at 8-2.

UMass Boston nearly put together a rally in both the sixth and seventh. In the sixth, Lauren Mitsiaris (Taunton, Mass.) singled with one and would have been at second, if not for a tremendous diving effort from Weber at shortstop. With one out and Mitsiaris on first, St. Angelo belted a line drive deep into the hole at short, only to have Weber make a full-extension diving effort. While Weber eventually dropped the ball on contact with the outfield grass, she was easily able to get the force out at second to stem the momentum.

The Beacons threatened one final time in the seventh. Marcotte opened the inning with a double to center and moved to third with one down. Sabith ended the rally and a perfect 4-0 week for the Colonials with a pop-up to shortstop.

THE BASICS

• Sunday's game marked the final game of seniors Kristina Bove (Medford, Mass.) and Kelsey Cruse's (Worcester, Mass.) careers. 
• The Beacons were the fourth fifth-seed in the past five years to reach the LEC Championship Series. 
• UMass Boston's 12.5-game improvement from last year (6-24) ranks just outside the top-25 in NCAA Division III Softball history. To put it in perspective, Clarkson University's 12.5-game improvement in 2015 was the third-largest in the nation (407 teams) last spring. 
• Thomas ends her freshman season with the single-season program marks for strikeouts (152), innings (166.2), shutouts (five), earned run average (2.35) and opposing batting average against (.253). She also finished tied for first in appearances (27) and wins (13) and ranks second in strikeouts per game (6.38).
• Freshman catcher Roxanne Vento (Arlington, Mass.) set the single-season program-record for fielding percentage (.995) and Mitsiaris ranks second for a single-season with her 283 chances. 
• As a team, the Beacon set the single-season program marks for doubles (59) and strikeouts (207) and tied the program-records for best fielding percentage (.960) and innings pitches (270.2).

WHO'S NEXT

UMass Boston will return all but one starter for the 2017 season.