NORTH ADAMS, Mass. -- MCLA's Abby Lucas lifted a sacrifice fly to right field in the bottom of the 15th inning scoring Amanda Meczywor as the Trailblazers outlasted the Bridgewater State Bears 4-3 this afternoon in the 2015 MASCAC Softball Championship tournament.
The second-seeded Trailblazers (13-20) move on to face top-seeded Worcester State tomorrow at 1:30pm in the winner's bracket final, while the third-seeded Bears (20-14) will face #4 Salem State in an elimination game at 11:00 AM. The remainder of the tournament will played at Worcester State.
Neither team could crack the scoreboard through nine innings as MCLA's Rachel Quackenbush and BSU's Kelly McCarthy kept the offenses' in check. Both pitchers were outstanding as they each went the distance.
In the 15th inning, the Bears missed a golden opportunity to push in front. With a courtesy runner placed on second, Karissa Pagan singled putting runners on the corners without an out. Quackenbush bore down however, as she induced a popup before notching her 13th strikeout of the day for the second out. She would get out of the jam by getting Courtney Leddy to ground out setting the stage for Lucas' heroics.
MCLA's Meczywor was placed on second and moved to third on Michaela Dinicola's bunt single. BSU's Tara McCann made a great diving stop to keep the runners from advancing, however it loaded the bases for the Trailblazers with nobody out. McCarthy got a popup for the first out, and then Lucas lofted a fly ball to right field that scored Meczywor for the winning run.
Each team had numerous opportunities to score in the extra frames; however each team's defense made some remarkable plays. BSU drew first with a run in the tenth on McCann's sacrifice fly. The Bears had two runners in scoring position with just one out, however a ground ball back to the mound and a fly out to center field ended the threat.
MCLA would tie the game in the bottom half on Alex Romano's one out single. McCarthy would retire the next two hitters and the game would move to the 11th. McCarthy would help her own cause with an RBI single to right field giving the Bears a short lived 2-1 advantage as MCLA quickly rallied in the bottom half of the inning.
The Trailblazers tied the game on Sierra Bailey's RBI knock and had runners on second and third with just one out. Julie Watson hit a fly ball to Samantha LoPilato in right field for the second out, and the sophomore gunned down pinch runner Katelyn Henault at the plate to keep the game tied at 2-2.
Things got chaotic in the 12th inning. BSU loaded the bases with nobody out and looked to strike. Pagan fouled out for the first out and MCLA forced a runner at the plate for the second out. Quackenbush got Jocelyn Bettencourt to ground harmlessly to first to give the hosts a chance at the win.
In the bottom of the inning, it appeared as though MCLA would win it, however some heady defense kept the game going. With Watson on third base and just one out, Dinicola hit a ground ball in the hole that got Watson hung up at third. She got in a rundown and slid safely into third while Dinicola went all the way to second bringing Romano to the plate.
The sophomore lifted a fly ball to left and Watson tagged and appeared to score the winning run. She missed the plate however, and BSU frantically applied the tag to keep the game knotted at 2-2. Some confusion ensued and the game was delayed about 20 minutes.
When play resumed, each team pushed a run across and finally the Trailblazers scored the winning tally in the 15th.
McCarthy was outstanding for BSU allowing 10 hits over the 14.2 innings of work. She walked three and struck out two without allowing an earned run. McCann paced the BSU offensive attack with three of her team's six hits.
For MCLA, Quackenbush allowed just six hits and struck out a season best 13 hitters. Lucas ended with a pair of hits and RBI, while Bailey also had two safeties.