No. 4 Castleton 2, No. 5 Rhode Island College 0
The fourth-seeded Castleton University softball team bunched three of its six hits when it scored two runs in the bottom of the second inning and advanced in the winners’ bracket with a 2-0 win over fifth-seeded Rhode Island College in the opening game of the 2023 Little East Conference tournament Wednesday at Clyde Washburne Field.
Castleton (19-14) will face top seed Eastern Connecticut State University (26-8) in Thursday’s first game at noon while Rhode Island (17-18) was scheduled to play an elimination game in the six-team double-elimination tournament Wednesday at 6 p.m.
Olivia Joy (8-5) threw a complete-game five-hitter with three strikeouts, no walks and a hit-by-pitch in outdueling Abby Kidd (11-8), who pitched a six-hitter with ten strikeouts and no walks.
With one out in the second, Miranda Fish reached on an infield single to second and Alexis Rogers and Alexandra Brouillette had back-to-back doubles to account for the only runs of the game.
Trailing 2-0, Rhode Island threatened in the fourth but stranded two runners in scoring position. With runners on second and third after Amanda Conti singled and Katelyn Ashe was hit by a pitch in between Noelle Simmons’ sacrifice bunt, Joy got a fly ball to left for the second out (allowing Conti and Ashe to move into scoring position) and ended the inning when Kate LaPan threw out Cassidy Schoen on a routine ground ball.
Southern Maine 2, UMass Boston 0
Lauren Merrill and Belle Snyder combined on a three-hitter and third-seeded University of Southern Maine had four of its six hits in scoring both of its runs in the third inning and advanced to a winners’ bracket game with a 2-0 victory over sixth-seeded University of Massachusetts Boston on the first day of the 2023 Little East Conference Softball Tournament Wednesday afternoon at Clyde Washburne Field.
Southern Maine (20-19) will face No. 2 seed the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth (26-11) Thursday at 3 p.m. while UMass Boston (20-20) was scheduled to play an elimination game Wednesday night against No. 5 seed Rhode Island College (17-18). The Anchormen lost their opening Wednesday, 2-0, against fourth-seeded Castleton University (19-14). UMass Dartmouth drew a first-round by in the six-team, double-elimination tournament.
With USM leading, 2-0, Snyder (8-9) came on after Merrill allowed consecutive singles to open the fourth. Snyder left runners on first and third by getting two strikeouts and a fly ball to center and ended up pitching four scoreless innings for the victory. Snyder struck out seven (two each in her first three innings), retiring the final six batters in order after issuing a leadoff walk on ten pitches in the sixth.
Complete-game loser Bri Melchionda (12-4) gave up only six hits, but four of them came in the third when USM scored both of its runs. No. 9 hitter Mackenzie Renner reached on an infield single, and after she stole second and Snyder lined out on a hard drive to third baseman Lauren Miner, Lauren Miller singled in the first run and with two out, Hannan Shields singled to center to make it 2-0.
Rhode Island College 3, UMass Boston 0
Coming off a six-hit, ten strikeout pitching loss earlier in the day, Abby Kidd tossed a complete-game six-hitter with seven strikeouts as fifth-seeded Rhode Island College remained alive with a 3-0 triumph over No. 6 University of Massachusetts Boston on the first day of the 2023 Little East Conference softball tournament Wednesday at Clyde Washburne Field.
Rhode Island (18-18) advances in the elimination bracket and will play in the third game Thursday at 6 p.m. against the loser of the second-seeded Massachusetts Dartmouth-third-seeded University of Southern Maine, which will be played at 3 p.m. Thursday.
UMass Boston, beaten by a 2-0 score earlier Wednesday against third-seeded Southern Maine, concludes its season with a 20-21 record. UMass Boston and Rhode Island had split a doubleheader on the final day of the regular season this past Saturday.
Wednesday, Kidd (12-8) set down the Beacons in order through the first three innings en route to her second shutout of the season. As she did in the 2-0 loss to No. 4 seed Castleton University earlier Wednesday, she did not walk a batter. Four of the hits she allowed did not leave the infield.
After the Anchorwomen staked Kidd to a 3-0 lead after three innings, UMass left a runner in scoring position in the fourth and made its only really serious bid in the seventh when two infield singles and two errors loaded the bases with one out. Kidd ended the game, however with a swinging strikeout on a 1-2 pitch and a three-pitch game-ending infield pop out.
Rhode Island scored all of its runs off Emily Doble (6-13), who was lifted after three innings in favor of Bri Melchionda, who went the distance earlier in the day. The first three batters of the game reached safely for Rhode Island, with leadoff batter Avery Katz (double) and Amanda Conti (walk) coming around to score on No. 3 hitter Noelle Simmons’ RBI single and Alexis Boyce’s one-out ground ball. The Anchorwomen added another run in the third when Katz and Conti opened with singles and Simmons doubled for her second RBI of the game.