NEW LONDON, Conn. – First year second base Ella Molinari (Grafton, Mass.) knocked in a pair of runs, including the eventual game-winner in the seventh inning to give the Wheaton College (Mass.) softball team a 4-3 victory over host United States Coast Guard Academy to gain a split this evening in the second game of a New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference twinbill at Nitchman Field in New London, Conn.
The Lyons improve to 16-13 overall and 9-3 in league play, while the Bears fall to 9-15 and 7-5.
Wheaton rallied to score a pair of runs in the top of the seventh to erase a one-run deficit and come away with the win. The Lyons scored single runs in both the first and third innings to take a 2-0 margin, before Coast Guard scored three times in the bottom of the third to take a 3-2 edge.
Molinari was 1-4 with a double, while junior left fielder Juliette Zito (Woodbridge, Conn.) was 3-4 with a pair of doubles and three runs scored as part of a 10-hit attack that saw all but one of the Wheaton nine collect at least one hit. Senior third base Bryanna Agan (Averill Park, N.Y.) was 1-4 with a run batted in and junior center fielder Grace DiBacco (Selkirk, N.Y.) was 1-3 with a double. Sophomore starting pitcher Amber Arcand (Millville, Mass.) went the distance to earn the win and improve to 3-5. She scattered 10 hits in seven innings and allowed three runs, while fanning five batters and issuing a walk.
Sophomore shortstop Bridget Bartz (Arlington, Va.) was 2-2 with a double, a walk and a run batted for the Bears and senior catcher Lillian Farlow (Carrollton, Texas) was 1-4 with a double and two RBI. Sophomore starting pitcher Dana Walker (Macon, Ga.) contributed at the plate, going 2-3 with a double. She suffered the loss in the circle to drop to 5-7, allowing four runs (two earned) on 10 hits to go with a strikeout in seven complete innings.
The Lyons rapped out three hits and took advantage of a pair of errors to score the final two runs of the game in the seventh inning. Junior right fielder Jillian Rohon (Southington, Conn.) served a single to center field, before Zito belted a double to center to put both runners in scoring position with one out. First year designated hitter Taylor Barry (Hadley, Mass.) lined a rocket ticketed for center field, but Walker snared it out of the air for the second out. She spun to third with a throw in an attempt to double off Rohon on the play, but her throw was off the mark, allowing Rohon to score the tying run, while Zito advanced to third. Molinari pulled a 2-2 pitch down the left field line for a double to bring home Zito with the go-ahead run and a 4-3 lead for Wheaton.
Arcand set the final three batters down in order to secure the victory for the visitors.
The Lyons cracked the scoring column in the top of the first when Zito smacked a lead-off double to center field, advanced to third on a ground out and scored on another ground out by Molinari for a 1-0 edge.
Wheaton tacked on another run in the third to take a 2-0 margin. Zito was the catalyst again, opening the frame with a single to left, before advancing to third on back-to-back ground outs again. Agan came through with an RBI single to center to put the Lyons up by two.
Coast Guard's bats came alive in the bottom of the inning with four hits to score three runs and take a 3-2 lead. Senior center fielder Christine Carey (San Diego, Calif.) reached on an infield single, before senior third base Julia Breidenthal (Leawood, Kan.) ripped a two-out single to center. Farlow came through with a two-run double to center to knot the contest at 2-2. Bartz kept the pressure on with a single to left field to drive in Farlow with the third run.
Wheaton returns to action on Friday, April 26 when it hosts Smith College at 3:00 p.m. in a NEWMAC doubleheader at Clark Softball Field, while the Bears host University of Massachusetts Dartmouth tomorrow for a 3:00 p.m. twinbill.
