NORTON, Mass. - The Wheaton College (Mass.) softball team took an early lead, but ultimately fell to visiting Springfield College, 3-1, in the first game of Saturday's New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference softball doubleheader in Norton.
The loss saw the Lyons fall to 11-10 overall and 2-5 in the NEWMAC, while the win moved the Pride to 14-8 on the season and 5-4 in the NEWMAC.
Junior starting pitcher
Sofia De La Rosa (Middle Village, N.Y.) pitched the complete game, allowing 11 hits and striking out four batters. Wheaton managed only one run, which was driven in by senior slugger
Peyton Blankenheim-Brown (Rio Linda, Calif.) with the only extra-base hit of the game. Junior
Emma Boucher (Derry, N.H.) went 2-3 at the plate, while junior shortstop
Ella Molinari (Grafton, Mass.) matched the performance while also coming around to score the only run for Wheaton.
Senior starting pitcher and lead-off hitter Amelia DeRosa (Miller Place, N.Y.) was stellar on the rubber and in the batter's box. She pitched the entire contest and allowed only eight hits while striking out nine batters. She helped her own cause with an RBI base–hit to tie the game, setting up the eventual Springfield victory. Sophomore Haley Ball (Westbrook, Maine) went 3-3 and drew a walk, while first year Madi Testo (Keene, N.H.) poked the winning run home after going 2-4 with an RBI.
Wheaton kicked off the scoring early in the contest as they plated a run in the bottom of the first inning. A nifty two-out rally kicked off by Molinari quickly yielded a run as Blankenheim-Brown knocked a double off the wall in deep center field. The senior was stranded on second base as the Lyons went down swinging.
De La Rosa settled in after a one-two-three top of the second, throwing scoreless frames all the way until the fifth inning. The visitors managed to link a few base hits together in that inning, which ultimately decided the game. Back-to-back base hits led off the inning for Springfield, which set the table for DeRosa. The starting pitcher tied the game with a single that wrapped inside the left field line, scoring the tying run. Testo followed up DeRosa by poking the go-ahead run home. DeRosa touched home plate herself after a pop out in foul territory as senior Carissa Pecchia (Mamaroneck, N.Y.) drove her in with an RBI fielder's choice.
The three-run fifth inning gave the Lyons very little time to mount a comeback. Blankenheim-Brown and Boucher both reached base in the bottom half of the frame, but neither were converted into a run.
De La Rosa was able to contain the damage to just the fifth inning as she tossed two more scoreless innings to set up the bottom of the seventh. Sophomore
Madi Miller (Middle Village, N.Y.) entered the game as a pinch hitter and led off the final inning with a base hit. Junior
Gabby Reinbold (Sharon, Mass.) returned to the game as a pinch runner and was advanced to second by a sacrifice bunt. The runner was in scoring position, but two fly outs to right-center field ended Wheaton's comeback hopes before they truly materialized.
Wheaton will take on Springfield again today as they play the second half of the NEWMAC doubleheader at 2:00 p.m.
