BRIDGEWATER, Mass. – Led by tournament MVP Amber White (Middleboro, Mass.), Bridgewater State captured the program's ninth Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) Softball Tournament championship as the top-seeded Bears downed fifth-seeded Framingham State, 8-1, in the title game on Sunday afternoon at Alumni Park.
By virtue of the tournament championship, the team's second straight, the Bears (29-12) will advance to the NCAA Division III Tournament for the 22nd time in program history. The NCAA Division III Softball Tournament Selection Show will be webcast live at www.ncaa.com on Monday morning at ten with regional play getting underway on Thursday, May 9th.
White (22-3) put together an impressive tournament run as she went 3-0 with three complete games and two shutouts. She fanned batters 18 in 21 innings of work and posted an impressive 0.33 earned run average.
In this afternoon's win over Framingham, White went the distance allowing just one run on six hits with no walks and four strikeouts.
After the Rams (21-20) took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning on a home run by Jessica Anthony (Stoneham, Mass.), the Bears responded with five runs in the bottom of the second to take control of the game. Jennifer Galavotti (Marion, Mass) doubled to lead off the frame and pinch runner Breanna Shaffer (Plainville, Mass.) came around to score the tying run on Samantha LoPilato's (Medford, Mass.) RBI single. LoPilato was gunned down trying to advance to second on the throw home.
With one down in the inning, Karissa Pagan (Brockton, Mass.) singled and Kelly McCarthy (Burlington, Mass.) followed with a walk to put runners on first and second. Courtney Leddy (Saugus, Mass.) then reached on an infield single with both Pagan and McCarthy coming around to score on a throwing error by the Rams' shortstop. Jill Welch (Hubbardston, Mass.) knocked in Leddy with a base hit and then promptly stole second and third. Jocelyn Bettencourt (Plymouth, Mass.) followed with a walk and Welch scurried home from third with the Bears' fifth run of the inning when Bettencourt was caught in a rundown between first and second.
Bridgewater added a run in the third as Jessica Laudati (Berkley, Mass.) singled, moved to second on a wild pitch and scored on Galavotti's RBI base knock. The Bears' would increase the advantage to 7-1 in the fourth as Tara McCann (Fall River, Mass.) tripled home Leddy who had singled to lead off the frame.
BSU capped off the scoring in the bottom of the sixth as Leddy doubled to deep centerfield, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on Bettencourt's RBI ground out.
Leddy highlighted the Bears' ten-hit attack as she went 3-for-3 and scored three runs. Galavotti also finished with multiple hits as she doubled and singled in three at bats. Leddy batted .556 (5-9) during the tournament with a double and a team-high five runs scored, while Galavotti batted .500 (5-10) with a double, a triple and a tournament-best five runs batted in.
Danielle Belliveau (Lakeville, Mass.) was the only Ram with multiple hits as she went 2-for-3 with a pair of singles. Andrea Smith (Milford, Mass.) suffered the loss in the circle for Framingham as she gave up five runs on five hits with two walks and a strikeout. Smith (6-13) was hurt by a pair of errors behind her that led to three of the five runs being unearned. The Rams would commit three errors in the game. Alexandra Ferri (Winthrop, Mass.) allowed three runs on five hits with a walk and a strikeout in four innings out of the pen.