NORTON, Mass. -- The Wheaton College (Mass.) softball team was shut out by visiting University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, 5-0, this afternoon at Clark Softball Field on the Wheaton campus in Norton, Mass.
The Lyons dip to 4-8 on the year, while the Corsairs win their fifth straight to improve to 8-6.
Junior left fielder Juliette Zito (Woodbridge, Conn.) collected her 100th career hit for Wheaton with a double in the game.
UMass Dartmouth scored all the runs it would need with three in the second inning, before adding two more in the seventh.
Wheaton left eight runners on base, including a runner on third on two different occasions.
First year second base Ella Molinari (Grafton, Mass.) led the Lyons at the plate, going 2-4, while Zito added a walk to her two-bagger. Sophomore starting pitcher Amber Arcand (Millville, Mass.) (1-3) went the distance, giving up five runs (three earned) on nine hits and a walk to go with four strikeouts in seven complete innings.
Sophomore center fielder Sydney Menz (Stoughton, Mass.) knocked in a run and was 1-4 with a triple and a run scored for the Corsairs, while junior shortstop Larissa Piessens (Windham, N.H.) and junior left fielder Jill Walsh (Warwick, R.I.) each singled, drove in a run and scored a run. Junior right fielder Kinu Takasugi (South Pasadena, Calif.) chipped in with two hits in four at-bats and scored a run. Junior left-handed starter Rahne Turley (Sandwich, Mass.) earned the victory to improve to 3-2 after hurling five scoreless frames on five hits and no walks, before yielding to senior righty reliever Kaitlyn Shirshac (Enfield, Conn.). Shirshac earned her first save of the year after tossing two innings of scoreless relief that saw her yield just one hit and a base on balls to go with a strikeout.
UMass Dartmouth scored three runs with some timely hitting and the benefit of a pair of errors in the top of the third inning. Walsh singled to right field and advanced to third when the ball got away from the right fielder. Piessens came through with an RBI single up the middle and advanced to second on a single to left from Takasugi. Both runners came around to score on a dropped pop-up to third with two outs to give the visitors a 3-0 advantage.
The Corsairs were held without a run until the seventh when they tacked on two more runs for a five-run cushion. Sophomore RaeLynn Perregaux (Torrington, Conn.) poked a leadoff single through the right side and came around to score ahead of a triple to right center off the bat of Menz to make it 4-0. Menz scored the fifth run a batter later on a ground out.
Wheaton threatened to dent the scoring column in the first inning when Zito reached on an infield error on a bunt, stole second and advanced to third on a single up the middle from senior shortstop Lindsey Oliveira (Westport, Mass.). Turley got out of the jam with a ground out to keep the game scoreless after one inning of play.
Zito was in the middle of another scoring chance for the Lyons in the fifth inning with a three-run deficit. She smacked a double over the center fielder for her milestone hit and advanced to third ahead of a single from Molinari, but Turley again kept the home team off the board, getting a pop up to second to end the frame.
UMass Dartmouth returns to action on March 27 when it hosts Brandeis University in a twinbill at 3:00 p.m., while Wheaton heads to Bridgewater, Mass. on Tuesday, March 26 when it plays Bridgewater State University at 3:00 p.m. for a doubleheader.
