NORTON, Mass. – The Wheaton College (Mass.) softball team was edge by visiting Johnson & Wales University, 2-1, in the second game of a doubleheader this evening at Clark Softball Field on the Wheaton campus in Norton, Mass.
The Lyons dip to 16-4 on the season, while the Wildcats even their record at 10-10.
JWU rapped out 13 hits on the day, but matched the home team with 11 runners left on base. The visitors got on the board first with a run in the top of the second to take a 1-0 edge, before Wheaton tied the game at 1-1 with a run in the home half of the fourth. The Wildcats got the difference maker with a run in the sixth to give them the margin of victory.
Senior right fielder Jillian Rohon (Southington, Conn.) was 1-3 with a run batted in and a stolen base to pace the Lyons. Sophomore shortstop Ella Molinari (Gratfton, Mass.) was 2-4 with a triple and first year third base Sangeeta Vaidya (Sunnyvale, Calif.) was 2-3 at the plate. Sophomore reliever Sofia De La Rosa (Middle Village, N.Y.) suffered the loss to drop to 8-2 after giving up a run on eight hits to go with five strikeouts in four innings.
Sophomore second base Amanda Madigan (Holbrook, N.Y.) collected three hits and knocked in a run and sophomore starting pitcher Madi Wong (Newton, Mass.) allowed just one run in six innings to lead Johnson & Wales. Madigan gave up five hits and three walks, while striking out two over six innings to improve to 1-1 on the year. Junior right fielder Olivia Mason (Derry, N.H.) was 1-2 with an RBI for Johnson & Wales, while senior center fielder Caroline Amorelli (Berlin, N.J.) was 3-4. Sophomore third base Jessica Forneiro (Kings Park, N.Y.) contributed, going 2-4 with a run scored. Junior relief pitcher Jillian Reed (Burlington, N.J.) picked up her first save of the season with a scoreless seventh inning, where she gave up a single and a walk.
The Wildcats took the lead for good with a run in the top of the sixth to take a 2-1 lead. Sophomore Chloe Brunelle (Brentwood, N.H.) punched a single to right field, before being lifted for senior pinch-runner Rachel Gosselin (West Warwick, R.I.). First year pinch-hitter Morgan Pelletier (Meriden, Conn.) followed with a single up the middle to push Gosselin into scoring position. Madigan later came through with a two-out single to left center to plate Gosselin with the game-deciding run.
JWU pitching stranded a Wheaton runner on second base with just one out in both the sixth and seventh innings to preserve the win.
The Wildcats cracked the scoring column with a run in the second to take a 1-0 edge. Forneiro served a leadoff single to center field and later came around to score on a two-out single through the right side off the bat of Mason.
The Lyons got the run back in the bottom of the fourth to pull even at 1-1. Sophomore catcher Emma Boucher (Derry, N.H.) drew a walk and Vaidya reached on a bunt single pushed past the pitching circle to second base to leave both runners on base safely. The runners both moved into scoring position on a bunt, before Rohon delivered an RBI single to center field to knot the contest.
Wheaton looked to take its first lead of the game in the bottom of the fifth when Molinari legged out a one-out triple to the right center gap, but Wong struck out the next two hitters to keep it a tie game.
The Lyons return to the diamond when they travel to Northampton, Mass. to play Smith College in a two-game set on Friday, April 4 at 3:00 p.m., while Johnson & Wales plays on on April 5 when it heads to New London, Conn. to take on Mitchell College at 12:00 p.m. in the first game of a Great Northeast Athletic Conference twinbill.
