LEESBURG, Fla.—Behind a total team effort and two strong pitching performances, UMass Boston softball earned a pair of wins on Opening Day. 

THE BASICS

UMass Boston 7, Houghton College 2

UMass Boston 5, Olivet College 1 

(UMass Boston 2-0) 

(Houghton College 1-8) 

(Olivet College 0-3) 

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Beacons piled up 12 runs and 24 hits over 14 innings and allowed just three runs in their first two games of their Florida trip. 

Senior Roxanne Vento (Arlington, Mass.) paced the Beacons with four hits on the day, while Giovanna Bonilla (Queens, N.Y.) tacked on three hits, two RBI, a run scored and a stolen base. 

GAME ONE RECAP 

The Beacons exploded for seven runs in the first two innings and cruised behind the right arm of Jess Greenspan (Rocky Hill, Conn.). 

Greenspan allowed just nine hits and two walks over seven innings, to earn a win in her season debut. The Beacons' all-time leader in wins struck out three in the victory. 

Senior Alyssa Tulley (Lowell, Mass.) paced the offense with two hits and an RBI in the victory, while Vento, Gigi Braga (Medford, Mass.), Cassidy Gaeta (North Reading, Mass.) and Sarah Harlinski (Sturbridge, Mass.) each chipped in with two hits and a run scored.  

Tori Dicenso (Lynn, Mass.) and Bonilla each recorded a hit, an RBI and a run scored. 

UMass Boston struck for two runs in the first and second innings and then pushed their lead to 7-1 with a three-run third.

GAME TWO RECAP 

UMass Boston again struck for all of their runs in the first three innings and that was more than enough for freshman Haley Catania (Amesbury, Mass.) in her collegiate debut. 

Catania held Olivet to seven hits, one walk and one earned run over six innings to earn a win in his first career appearance in the circle. She tacked on one strikeout, before fellow freshman Jayla Blackmon (Cambridge, Mass.) came on to throw a perfect seventh inning. 

Bonilla and Vento were the lone Beacons to reach two hits apiece, while Kelly Danahy (Kingston, Mass.) worked three walks in her four trips to the plate.  

Freshman Caley Ruggiero (Southbury, Conn.) finished the game 1-1 with a run scored, an RBI and a walk. 

The Beacons took a 1-0 lead in the second on a Braga RBI single, before striking for four runs in the third.  Ruggiero worked a bases loaded walk, Bonilla added an RBI single and the pair executed a delayed double steal to bring in Ruggiero. 

Olivet broke up the shutout bid in the top of the sixth, when Taylor Shellenberger grounded into a fielder's choice with the bases loaded. Catania induced a pair of fly outs to strand runners at the corners and get out of the jam. 

BY THE NUMBERS

• Twelve different Beacons recorded hits during the doubleheader. 
• Alley Diaute (Braintree, Mass.), Geicy Peña (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic), Harlinski, Ruggiero, Catania and Blackmon all made their collegiate debuts on the day. 
• The Beacons are 2-0 for the third in seven years. The 2017 team started 4-0 and finished the trip 8-2. 
• Greenspan is just 10 strikeouts away from 200 for her career. 

WHO'S NEXT 

UMass Boston will play a pair of teams from the Keystone State on Sunday, when they take on Arcadia College (2 p.m.) and Haverford College (4:15) at the Fortune Road Complex in Kissimmee.