NORTON, Mass. – The Wheaton College (Mass.) softball team fell to visiting Springfield College, 11-0, this afternoon to gain a doubleheader split in the second game of a New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference match-up at Clark Softball Field on the Wheaton campus in Norton, Mass. The game was halted after five innings of play, due to the NCAA's eight-run mercy rule.
The Lyons slip to 17-14 overall and 10-4 in league play, while the Pride have won three of their last four and improve to 23-7-1 and 11-3.
Springfield scored five times in the first inning, before adding four more in the third to take a 9-0 advantage. The visitors tallied two more runs in the fifth to set the final at 11-0. The Pride rapped out 15 hits in the game, including at least one hit from every hitter in the starting lineup.
Junior left fielder Juliette Zito (Woodbridge, Conn.) led the Wheaton bats from the lead-off spot, going 2-3 with a triple, while senior third base Bryanna Agan (Averill Park, N.Y.) was 1-2 with a double. Sophomore starting pitcher Amber Arcand (Millville, Mass.) suffered the loss to drop to 3-6 after yielding five runs on five hits and a walk in two-thirds of an inning for the Lyons.
Senior catcher Callie Gendron (Berlin, Conn.) was 3-3 with four runs batted in to lead Springfield. Gendron hit a home run, doubled, drew a walk and scored a pair of runs for Springfield. Sophomore third base Amelia DeRosa (Miller Place, N.Y.) and sophomore first base Kate Katsetos (Brewster, N.Y.) each collected two hits and knocked in a run. Senior left fielder Michaela Ponticello (Gloversville, N.Y.) finished 1-1 with a two-run double. Senior starting pitcher Ashley Pugliese (Long Island, N.Y.) earned the victory to improve to 9-2 after hurling five innings of six-hit, shutout ball and struck out a batter.
The Pride sent 10 batters to the plate in the top of the first with five of them scoring. Wheaton pitching retired the first two hitters in the frame, before Springfield erupted for five runs. Sophomore designated player Carissa Pecchia (Mamaroneck, N.Y.) and senior right fielder Lucy Puskas (Roxbury, Conn.) sandwiched singles around a Gendron base on balls to load the bases. Senior shortstop Breannah McCann (Poway, Calif.) reached on an infield single to push home Pecchia with the first run of the contest. Ponticello came through with a two-run double to the left-center gap to give the Pride a three-run margin. Katsetos later served an RBI single to left to drive in Ponticello and give Springfield a 5-0 lead.
The Pride scored four more runs with two outs in the top of the third. Senior center fielder Ava Rainone (White Plains, N.Y.) and Olsen smacked back-to-back singles, before DeRosa reached on an infield single to knock in Rainone. Pecchia drew a walk to load the bases to set up a two-run single to right-center off the bat of Gendron to increase the visitors' cushion to 8-0. Pecchia later scored the ninth run on a throwing error.
Gendron gave Springfield two more insurance runs when she smashed a two-run homer in the fifth to bring home DeRosa, who had opened the inning with a single.
The Lyons managed to put a runner on third base twice in the game, but were unable to score. Agan belted a lead-off double in the second and went to third on a single up the middle from senior shortstop Lindsey Oliveira (Westport, Mass.). Wheaton looked to manufacture a run, but Agan was caught on the front end of a double steal after Oliveira was caught in a run-down between first and second and Agan was cut down at the plate after breaking from third with the attempt to score.
The Pride returns to action tomorrow when they travel to Worcester, Mass. to take on Clark University in a NEWMAC twinbill at noon, while the Lyons also play a 12:00 p.m. conference doubleheader on the road, visiting Wellesley College in Wellesley, Mass.
