DARTMOUTH, Mass. -- The Wheaton College (Mass.) softball team was defeated in nine innings by host University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, 6-5, this afternoon at the UMassD Softball Field in Dartmouth, Mass. The Lyons fall to 4-5 on the season following their fourth one-run loss in the sixth inning or later. The Corsairs improve to 11-2-1.

First year center fielder Juliette Zito (Woodbridge, Conn.) was 2-5 with two runs batted in and a run scored from the top spot in the order for Wheaton, while senior shortstop Katelyn Barton (Andover, N.H.) was 3-4 with a pair of doubles and an RBI. Senior first base Tristan Keller (Plymouth, N.H.) was 2-3 with a walk and a run scored. Senior relief pitcher Sarah Pritchard (Malta, N.Y.) was outstanding in relief, allowing just two runs in the extra frames with a runner placed on second due to the international tie-breaker, on two hits and no walks, while striking out a batter in five and a third innings of work.

Fifth-year senior shortstop Leah Major (Fairhaven, Mass.) knocked in three runs and was 1-4 with a run scored and a stolen base for UMass Dartmouth, while fifth-year senior starting pitcher Jill Richards (Kingston, Mass.) drove in a pair of runs with a 1-4 effort. Junior left fielder Lynsie Miracle (Richland, Wash.) scored twice and was 1-3. Richards improved to 6-1 after going all nine innings and giving up five runs (three earned) on 10 hits and a walk to go with four strikeouts.

UMD scored the winning run in the bottom of the ninth on a throwing error on a sacrifice bunt with a runner on second as part of the international tie-breaker used for extra innings.

The Corsairs scored all of their runs before extra innings in the bottom of the third with a four-run frame. Junior right fielder Victoria Rossetti (Valley Stream, N.Y.), Miracle, first year center fielder Kinu Takasugi (South Pasadena, Calif.) all singled with one out to load the bases, before Major delivered a two-run single to give the home team a 2-0 lead. Richards doubled the lead with a two-run single of her own with two outs to make it 4-0.

The Lyons chipped away with single runs in the fifth and sixth innings, before tying the game with two runs in the seventh to knot the contest at 4-4.

Sophomore third base Lindsey Oliveira (Westport, Mass.) reached on an infield single and later scored on a two-out infield single to second base off the bat of Zito to put Wheaton on the board with a run in the top of the fifth. Barton delivered the second Lyons' run with a two-out double to left center to bring home senior pinch-runner Lilly Langaniere (Rochester, N.H.), who replaced Keller after she singled.

First year right fielder Jillian Rohon (Southington, Conn.) kept Wheaton alive with a leadoff double in the seventh, but the Corsairs retired the next two batters before Zito came through with a two-out RBI single to center field to pull the Lyons to within 4-3. Sophomore left fielder Allison Weston (West Islip, N.Y.) reached on an error and Zito scored the tying run before Pritchard sent the game into extra frames after setting down UMass Dartmouth in order in the bottom of the inning.

Sophomore second base Bryanna Agan (Averill Park, N.Y.) gave Wheaton its first lead of the game when she laced a single down the right field line to plate Pritchard with the go-ahead run in the eighth. The Corsairs tied the game with a run scoring on a fielder's choice in the bottom of the frame.