No. 1 Eastern Connecticut 8, No. 4 Castleton 0 (8 innings)
Nursing a 1-0 lead, top-seeded Eastern Connecticut State University sent ten batters to the plate and scored seven runs on five hits and three walks to defeat fourth-seeded Castleton University, 8-0, on the second day of the 2023 Little East Conference double elimination softball tournament Thursday afternoon at Clyde Washburne Field.
In winning its first game in the tournament, three-time defending champion Eastern (27-8) advances in the winners’ bracket Friday at noon against an opponent not yet determined. Coming of an opening 2-0 win over fifth-seeded Rhode Island College Wednesday, Castleton (19-15) drops into an elimination game Friday at 6 p.m.
Leading 1-0, Eastern got a two-run home run from Julia SanGiovanni in the fifth, and with one out, the final seven batters reached safely on either a hit, walk or error to record its 19th straight win this year. The game ended when winning pitcher Alyssa Vilchez’ (12-2) potential sacrifice fly to left was dropped, pushing across the seventh and eighth runs which ended the contest due to the mercy rule.
Leadoff hitter Sarah Remillard reached three times on two hits and a walk (the 19th straight game that she has reached safely), with Vilchez, like Remillard, singling and doubling. Taylor Darby scored twice after walking and singling.
Vilchez recorded all but the final out. She was lifted in favor of Carley Stoker with two out in the top of the fifth and the bases clear and Stoker got a called strikeout to record her fifth save. Vilchez allowed singles in the second and third innings only, fanning two and hitting a batter.
In a scoreless game with a runner on second in the third inning, Stoker made the play of the game in left field when she dove toward the left field line to snag a sinking line drive off the bat of cleanup hitter Allie Almond and deny what potentially could have been a two-run inside-the-park home run.
No. 2 UMass Dartmouth 5, No. 3 Southern Maine 4
Dyonna Rodas came around to score the winning run from second on an infield error with none out in the bottom of the seventh inning that propelled second-seeded University of Massachusetts Dartmouth to a 5-4 victory over third-seeded University of Southern Maine on the second day of the 2023 Little East Conference softball tournament at Clyde Washburne Field.
UMass Dartmouth (27-11), which was playing its first tournament game after receiving one of two first-round byes, will play top-seeded Eastern Connecticut State University in the winners’ bracket final Friday at noon. That winner needs one victory to win the title of the six-team, double-elimination tournament. USM was scheduled to play an elimination game Thursday night at 6 p.m. against fifth-seeded Rhode Island College (18-18), which split its first two games.
Southern Maine (20-20) had erased a first-inning 2-0 deficit when Rodas hit a two-run home run and later tied it, 4-4, when it scored a run in the top of the seventh on a leadoff double by Lauren Merrill and Rona Scott’s one-out RBI single through the right side.
In the bottom of the seventh, Rodas reached for the third time in the game when her drive deflected off the pitcher into shallow left field and she legged out a double just ahead of the throw. With runners on first and second, Raelynn Perregaux grounded sharply to third base off relief pitcher Merrill. The ball bounced off the foot of USM third baseman Kendall Migliorini, sailed across the diamond and into shallow right field, allowing Rodas to scoring the winning run.
Jill Richards (12-7) went the distance for UMass Dartmouth, allowing only one earned run (the tying run in the top of the seventh) on eight hits. She struck out six and walked two (both in the second inning) and hit a batter. USM stranded nine, leaving the bases loaded after scoring a run in the second and two ore in the fourth. Richards got a strikeout for the second out of the second and stranded three runners on a ground ball to short to end the inning.
USM starting pitcher Belle Snyder pitched into the fifth inning and also reached three times on two singles and a walk which forced in the second-inning run.
Rhode Island College 4, Southern Maine 3 (10 innings)
Amanda Conti singled home Victoria Young from second base with two out in the bottom of the tenth inning as fifth-seeded Rhode Island College remained alive in the 2023 Little East Conference softball tournament with a 4-3 elimination-game victory over third-seeded University of Southern Maine Thursday evening at Clyde Washburne Field.
With its second tournament win, Rhode Island (19-18) advances to play fourth-seeded Castleton University (19-15) Friday at 3 p.m. in an elimination game. In Friday’s first game, top-seeded Eastern Connecticut State University (27-8) faces second-seeded University of Massachusetts Dartmouth (27-11) in the winners’ bracket final. The winner of the Eastern-UMass game needs one win Saturday to claim the title of the six-team double-elimination tournament.
Coming off a walk-off loss earlier in the day to UMass Dartmouth, Southern Maine (20-21) tied the game against Rhode Island with two runs in the top of the sixth inning. With pitchers Abby Kidd (RIC) and Belle Snyder (USM) dominating the game, neither team could break through until the bottom of the tenth.
Snyder (8-10) got the first two batters out in the tenth before No. 9 hitter singled softly to left on the first pitch she saw from Snyder. Leadoff hitter Avery Katz then coaxed a walk on five pitches after Snyder fell behind, 3-0. On a 2-2 pitch, Conti sent a ground ball up the middle that eluded USM’s middle infielders, allowing Young to score easily from second. Until the tenth, Rhode Island had been held hitless over the previous four innings.
Rhode Island chased USM starter Lauren Merrill with three runs in the fourth that propelled it into a 3-1 lead before USM tied it in the sixth. In that fourth inning, the Anchorwomen bunched five of their ten hits, with Cassidy Schoen and Sophia Crudale driving in runs with singles and Young plating the final run with a sacrifice fly.
Rhode Island starter Abby Kidd (13-8) was lifted after hitting the first batter of the second inning but returned while the Huskies were scoring their two runs and tying the game in the sixth. Kidd retired 11 consecutive batters before Hannah Shields opened the top of the tenth inning with a double to center on the first pitch she saw from Kidd. Shields was erased for the second out of the inning when she was trapped between second and third on a ground ball to Conti at short, and Kidd got an infield pop to end the threat and set up the game-winning rally in the bottom of the inning.