KISSIMMEE, Fla. — Sophomore starting pitcher Sofia De La Rosa (Middle Village, N.Y.) spun her second straight shutout and senior center fielder Grace DiBacco (Selkirk, N.Y.) drove in a three runs to lead the Wheaton College (Mass.) softball team over Utica University, 7-0, this morning at Fortune Road Athletic Complex in Kissimmee, Fla. as part of The Spring Games.
The Lyons improve to 3-0 on the year, while Pioneers drop their season opener to dip to 0-1.
Wheaton rapped out 12 hits, while scoring in all but two innings.
De La Rosa was outstanding for the Lyons, allowing just four hits and no walks to go with a career-high 14 strikeouts to become just the fourth pitcher in school history to fan 14 or more batters in a game. She finished just one strikeout short of the school mark of 15 and has not allowed a run or a walk in 14 innings pitched to start the season. DiBacco was perfect at the plate for Wheaton, going 2-2 with a walk in three plate appearances. Sophomore shortstop Ella Molinari (Grafton, Mass.) was 1-3 with two runs scored, an RBI and a walk and senior left fielder Juliette Zito (Woodbridge, Conn.) was 2-4, including a double, in addition to a pair of runs scored and a stolen base.
Senior shortstop Brooke Beleza (Amherstview, Ont.) led Utica with two hits in three at-bats, including a double. Senior designated player Abigail Sacks (Colonie, N.Y.) and senior third base Alyssa Barbato (Rhinebeck, NY) each collected a single in the game for the Pioneers. Senior starting pitcher Kylie Murray (Eastchester, NY) suffered the loss to drop to 0-1 after giving up five runs on nine hits to go with a strikeout.
The Lyons opened the game with a run in the top of the first to take a 1-0 lead. Zito beat out an infield single to second base, stole second and went to third on an infield single to shortstop off the bat of junior first base Peyton Blakenheim-Brown (Rio Linda, Calif.) to put runners on the corners with two outs. Blankenheim-Brown later got hung up in a rundown between first and second, enabling Zito to score before Blankenheim-Brown was tagged out.
The Pioneers looked to counter right away in the bottom of the frame when Beleza whacked a double to the left-center fence and took third on a wild pitch with no outs. De La Rosa settled down for Wheaton and set down the next three hitters on a pop-up, a lineout and a harmless fly ball. She continued to stymie Utica, retiring eight more hitters for a string of 11 in a row over the next three innings.
Meanwhile, the Lyons tacked on another run in the second inning to take a 2-0 margin. Junior catcher Riley Dolan (Coram, N.Y.) served a lead-off single to right field and later came around to score on a DiBacco single up the middle to give Wheaton a two-run margin.
The Lyons opened the game up with a three-run third to increase their advantage to 5-0. Zito ripped a double down the left field line to open the third, before coming around to score ahead of an RBI single to the right-center gap off the bat of Molinari. Blankenheim-Brown reached on a fielder's choice and Dolan punched a two-out single to center to load the bases. DiBacco hit a sharp grounder just inside the third base line to bring home Blankenheim-Brown and Dolan with a pair of insurance runs for Wheaton.
The Lyons added single runs in the fifth and seventh frames to bump their lead to seven runs. Molinari drew a lead-off walk, Blankenheim-Brown singled and DiBacco worked a two-out walk to load the bases. First year third base Sangeeta Vaidya (Sunnyvale, Calif.) made her first collegiate hit a good one, driving in another run with a single through the left side to make it 6-0. Wheaton capped the scoring in the seventh. Junior pinch-hitter Maggie Caron (Boxford, Mass.) stroked a single to left field to begin the inning and later came around to score on a wild pitch.
While the Lyons' offense was doing its job, De La Rosa was doing hers with 14 of the final 17 outs of the game coming by way of the K, including five straight strikeouts to complete the contest.
Wheaton returns to action at 11:15 a.m. vs. Catholic University, while the Pioneers play Widener University at the same time.
