NORTON, Mass. – Junior outfielders Jillian Rohon (Southington, Conn.) and Juliette Zito (Woodbridge, Conn.) each knocked in a pair of runs to lead the Wheaton College (Mass.) softball team to a 5-4 comeback victory over visiting Babson College this afternoon in the first game of a New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference doubleheader at the Clark Softball Field on the Wheaton campus in Norton, Mass.
The Lyons improve to 13-9 overall and a perfect 7-0 in league play, while the Beavers drop to 11-13 and 2-5.
Babson outhit Wheaton 8-7, which included four of the visitors' hits through the first two innings. The Beavers led twice by two runs, 2-0 (top of the second inning) and 4-2 (top of the fourth inning), but the Lyons were able to provide a comeback and outlast the Beavers 5-4.
Rohon was 2-3 with a double, while Zito went 1-3 with a double and a walk. Sophomore first base Peyton Blankenheim-Brown (Rio Linda, Calif.) was perfect at the plate and tied a career-high with two hits, including a double and added a walk and a run scored. First year shortstop Ella Molinari (Grafton, Mass.) was 1-3 with an RBI (go-ahead RBI in the fourth inning) and added a stolen base. Senior catcher Jill Ceddia (Hopkinton, Mass.) went 1-3 and scored a season-high two runs. Senior pitcher Sofia Knopf (Norton, Mass.) recorded the win to improve to 7-4 in the circle and tossed four and a third innings while striking out one batter. Sophomore pitcher Brittany Dost (Centereach, N.Y.) pitched two and two-thirds shutout innings in relief and allowed just two hits to earn her first collegiate save.
Junior right fielder Sara Moore (Kennett Square, Pa.) led the Beavers batting a perfect 3-3 with a triple and two RBI. Graduate student center fielder Cassidy Musco went 1-2 with a walk, two runs scored, and a stolen base. Graduate student catcher Kate Karamouzis (Rockville Centre, N.Y.) and first-year left fielder Emily Walsh (Flemington, N.J.) each added an RBI. First-year pitcher Katie Vlacich (Concord, N.H.) suffered the loss to drop to 5-6 on the mound after surrendering five runs on seven hits and three walks allowed.
Babson's bats got going early, loading the bases with one out after a pair of hits and a walk during the opening inning, but the visitors left two runners stranded on the base paths after Blankenheim-Brown caught a line drive and tagged the first base bag to record a double play to close out the top half of the opening inning.
During the top of the second frame, the visitors added two more hits and also took advantage of a Wheaton throwing error, along with generating a two-out walk. The Beavers got on the board first when Moore cranked a two-run triple that eluded the Lyon center fielder's glove to give Babson a 2-0 lead. Wheaton responded with a two-run bottom of the second inning when Ceddia got on base with a hit and junior center fielder Grace DiBacco (Selkirk, N.Y.) reached base via a fielder's choice. Rohon then smacked a two-out, two RBI double to right center field to score Ceddia and DiBacco to tie the game at 2-2.
The visitors took advantage of the hosts' miscues at the top of the fourth inning to tack on two more runs. During the first three of four batters of the frame, Babson recorded a single, a walk drawn, and reached first base on catcher's interference to load the bases with one out. With the bases loaded, Karamouzis was hit by a pitch tossed by Knopf, which allowed graduate student third base Michaela Russell (Boston, Mass.) to score for Babson. The Beavers took advantage of a Wheaton infield error to make the score 4-2 through the top of four.
Wheaton's most productive offensive inning of the day came at the bottom of the fourth inning when the Lyons tallied three of their seven total hits during the frame. Blankenheim-Brown registered her second hit of the game with a one-out double to the outfield. The Lyons took advantage of a Beavers infield error, which allowed Ceddia to reach first and push Blankenheim-Brown over to third. After a stolen base by Ceddia and a walk drawn by DiBacco, Zito came up to the plate and smashed a two RBI double to left center field to score Blankenheim-Brown and Ceddia to tie the game at 4-4. Molinari then ripped a single through the left side of the infield to score DiBacco, which allowed Wheaton to take their first lead of the game at 5-4, and eventually proved to be the difference.
During the top of the fifth inning, the Beavers threatened to strike once again, when Knopf allowed a leadoff double and hit a Babson batter. Dost then entered the game in relief to replace Knopf and was able to get the Lyons out of a jam leaving two runners stranded for the Beavers.
With excellent defense backing up Dost in the circle, which included an infield double-play to close out the top of the sixth inning, Dost was able to retire her final six of seven batters to close out the game.
