Softball Drops Pair of MASCAC Games to Worcester on Senior Day

By Jim Fenton

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- The Worcester State University softball team scored 24 runs on 34 hits while sweeping a doubleheader from Bridgewater State University.

The Lancers took the opener, 10-0, in a game shortened after six innings due to the mercy rule. In the nightcap, the Bears took an early 4-0 lead but were overtaken, 14-5.

BSU (15-15) falls to 5-5 in the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference. The Bears host Curry College in a non-conference twinbill Tuesday at 3 p.m.

Worcester State (17-12) is now 7-3 in the conference, moving them into sole possession of third place while BSU falls into a three-way tie for the fourth spot with Salem State and Fitchburg State.

The Lancers had 16 hits in the opener while the Bears were limited to one hit. In the second game, Worcester State scored all of its runs in the final four innings and finished with 17 hits.

Abigal Koziol (Lunenburg, Mass.) had six hits in the doubleheader for the Lancers while Emma Lapoint (Westfield, Mass.) went 5-for-5 on the day and Emma Lanpher (Charlton, Mass.) had five hits.

The Bears managed a combined six hits in the two games.

BSU celebrated Senior Day with a ceremony following the doubleheader.

The team's two seniors, outfielder Janet Jolly (Raynham, Mass.) and pitcher Madelyn Klingel (Windsor, Conn.), were honored.

Game 1: Worcester State 10, Bridgewater State 0 (6 Inn.)

Emily Bartlett (Lowell, Mass.) gave up an infield hit to Riley Fitzgerald (Swansea, Mass.) in the second inning. The Bears had only two other batters reach base.

Bartlett, who also had two hits and drove in three runs, had 10 strikeouts and walked only one in six innings.

BSU's first runner was Makayla Ansell (Menifee, Calif.), who reached on an error and went to second on a wild pitch in the first inning.

Fitzgerald led the second with the lone hit and went to second on a wild pitch. In the fifth, Katie Tobin (Chestnut Hill, Mass.) walked with two outs.

Bartlett retired 11 straight before Tobin's walk and set down 15 of the last 16 hitters.

Worcester State took a 1-0 lead in the first when Lanpher singled, was sacrificed by Lapoint and scored on a single to center by Koziol.

The Lancers scored five runs in the fifth and four more in the sixth to pull away.

In the fifth, Bartlett singled up the middle to score Bailey Tammaro (Fitchburg, Mass.) and Lapoint, who had both singled. Bella Gasbarro (Leominster, Mass.) added an RBI single through the left side and a single to right-center by Morgan Keefe (Dracut, Mass.) scored two more runs.

Worcester State, which finished with 16 hits, scored four more on five hits in the sixth.

Lanpher singled and came in on a triple to left-center by Lapoint, who scored on a double to center by Bartlett.

Gasbarro finished the scoring with a two-run single to right.

The first seven hitters in the Lancers' order had at least two hits with Gasbarro going 3-for-4 with three RBI and Lanpher, Lapoint, Bartlett, Koziol, Amanda Adamuska (Dudley, Mass.) and Keefe getting two hits each.

Losing pitcher Olivia Hargreaves (Weare, N.H.) dropped to 4-4.

Game Two: Worcester State 14, Bridgewater State 5

The Bears took a 1-0 lead in the first when Sydney Schaefer (Swarthmore, Pa.) hit a sacrifice fly, scoring Kyleah Plumb (Taunton, Mass.), who had walked and advanced to third on a sacrifice by Ansell.

BSU added three runs in the third, all with two outs. The bases were loaded when Ansell and Victoria Becker (Abington, Mass.) singled and Schaefer was hit by a pitch.

A wild pitch scored Ansell and a two-run single by Fitzgerald made it 4-0.

Worcester State cut the lead in half in the fourth when Jayden Kelly (Tyngsboro, Mass.) hit a two-run homer.

The Bears were up, 5-2, when they scored an unearned run in the fourth inning.

The Lancers took a 6-5 lead with a four-run fifth that included a two-run single up the middle by Bartlett, an RBI double to center by Koziol and a sacrifice fly to left by Keefe.

Worcester State extended the margin to 8-5 in the sixth as Bartlett drew a bases-loaded walk and Koziol singled through the left side for a run.

The Lancers scored six times with six hits in the seventh to finish the scoring.

Cali Brouillard (Millbury, Mass.) had a two-run triple to right-center and Tammaro singled to left for a run.

Lapoint ended her perfect day with a two-run double to right-center and Koziol added an RBI single to center.

Koziol had four hits in the second game while Lapoint and Lanpler had three apiece.

Ansell had two of BSU's five hits while Klingel took the loss, going 4 1/3 innings.