BRIDGEWATER, Mass. – The Bridgewater State University softball team swept a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) doubleheader with visiting Fitchburg State University on Saturday afternoon at Alumni Park. Bridgewater won the first game, 3-0 and completed the sweep with an 8-2 victory in the nightcap.
The host Bears improve to 12-15 on the season and 7-1 in the MASCAC, while the visiting Falcons fall to 19-11 overall and 5-3 in conference play.
Game One
Freshman right-hander Kelley Reichert (Milford, Mass.) tossed a complete game, five-hit shutout to lead the Bears to the 3-0 victory in the opener. Reichert (4-5) did not issue a walk and fanned five as she recorded her second shutout of the season.
Bridgewater State opened the scoring with a run in the bottom of the second. The Bears loaded the bases on two walks and a base hit. Junior Samantha Mulcahy (Taunton, Mass.) knocked in freshman pinch runner Emma Healy (Plymouth, Mass.) with a sacrifice fly to center to make it a 1-0 game.
Bridgewater tacked on a run in the fourth as freshman Alexandra Taylor (Hebron, Conn.) double and scored on senior Courtney Gouveia's (Taunton, Mass.) RBI single
The Bears extended the lead to 3-0 with a run in the bottom of the fifth as sophomore Alexandra Ruprecht (Kingston, Mass.) led off the frame with a base hit and scored all the way from first on junior Shannon Grindle's (Halifax, Mass.) RBI double to right.
Grindle (2-for-2), Taylor (2-for-3) and freshman Megan Sharon (East Longmeadow, Mass.) rapped two hits apiece to lead the Bears' ten-hit attack. Grindle reached safely four times as she was hit by a pitch twice. Sharon went 2-for-4 with a pair of singles.
Bridgewater left 13 runners on base as the Bears stranded two runners in each of the first five innings and the base loaded in the sixth.
Junior righty Mikayla Harnois (Attleboro, Mass.) gave up three runs on eight hits over four innings in the setback for the Falcons. Harnois (11-4) walked two, hit two batters and notched two strikeouts.
Freshman Lundyn Forcier (Woonsocket, R.I.) went 2-for-2 to lead the Fitchburg offense.
Game Two
Junior right-hander Natalie Sorrenti (Bridgewater, Mass.) tossed a complete game victory to lead the Bears to the 8-2 win in game two and a sweep of the twinbill.
Sorrenti (6-5) scattered ten hits, did not issue a walk and fanned seven.
The Bridgewater attack started early in the first inning as they tallied four runs before getting an out. After a pair of singles by Mulcahy and Sharon, a walk by Gouveia, and a wild pitch that plated the first run of the game, Ruprecht reached first and pushed in two on an error by the third basemen. Grindle then came to the plate and grounded out to first on a trickler down the line to score the fourth.
The Bears added on another run in the fourth inning after a lead-off double by Grindle and a single down the left field line by junior Megan Navarro (Taunton, Mass.) made it first and third. Taylor proceeded to knock a sacrifice fly to right field that would be deep enough for Healey, who pitch ran for Grindle, to score the run.
Fitchburg scored their only two runs of the game in the fifth off a string of four singles by senior Melissa DiPhilippo (Norfolk, Mass.), junior McKenzie Lambert (Wilbraham, Mass.) and freshmen Olivia Pietersen (Norton, Mass.) and Courtney Luker (North Reading, Mass.).
BSU was back on the attack after back-to-back singles by Sharon and Heller and a sacrifice bunt by Ruprecht kicked off the bottom of the fifth. The Bears struck for two more as Grindle grounded out to the shortstop, for her second RBI of the game, and Navarro pushed an RBI single into shallow right field.
The Bears eighth, and final run of the game, came in the sixth off an RBI single up the middle by Gouveia after Mulcahy reached first on a hard knock through the right side and proceeded to steal second base.
Mulcahy and Navarro both went 2-for-3 at the plate leading the Bears attack. Sharon (2-for-4, 2 runs), Grindle (1-3, 2B, 2 RBI's), Heller (1-for-3, 2 runs, BB), and Ruprecht (0-2, Sacrifice Bunt, 2 RBIs) also played major roles for the Bears offensive.
The Falcons banged out ten hits in the nightcap as Lambert (3-for-4, run) and Peitersen (2-for-4, RBI) recorded multiple hits.
Sophomore Taylor Colvin (Lancaster, Mass.) was knocked out early on in the first inning and suffered the loss for the Falcons. Colvin (2-3) allowed four runs on two hits while walking two batters. Freshman Haley O'Brien (Lynnfield, Mass.) came in with no outs in the first and threw five innings of relief, giving up three runs on five hits while fanning two batters and walking none. In the sixth, Junior Emma Campbell (Goffstown, N.H) gave up two hits and a run in one inning of work to end the game.
The Bears travel to WPI on Wednesday for a 3:30 doubleheader with the Engineers. The Falcons entertain Westfield State University on Monday with game one of the twinbill getting underway at noon.