Courtesy of Fitchburg State Sports Information Office

FITCHBURG, Mass. -- The fourth seeded Falcons of Fitchburg State University rallied past the fifth seeded Trailblazers of MCLA, 2-1 in opening round action of the 2019 Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) Softball Tournament this afternoon from the Donna Lee Withington Memorial Softball Field.

The Falcons improve to 25-14 on the season. Fitchburg will travel to Bridgewater State University on Thursday afternoon for a quarterfinal round game with the top-seeded Bears starting at 4:00 PM. The remainder of the tournament is a double elimination format. The Trailblazers end the season with an overall record of 14-21.

MCLA opened the scoring in the top of the third as senior Kaitlyn Berghela (Watervilet, N.Y.) singled up the middle and scored off an RBI double from junior Kaylyn Holliday (Catskill, N.Y.) for the 1-0 edge.

Fitchburg State responded in the bottom of the sixth, plating two runs when senior Melissa DiPhilippo (Norfolk, Mass.) brought in freshman Courtney Luker (North Reading, Mass.) with a sacrifice fly to right before junior McKenzie Lambert (Wilbraham, Mass.) laced a double to left to score senior Maddie Medina (Pelham, N.H.) for the 2-1 advantage.

Falcons’ sophomore hurler Taylor Colvin (Lancaster, Mass.) secure the victory for the Green and Gold, pitching a one, two, three seventh frame to give Fitchburg State the win.

Lambert led the way for the Falcons, going 1-for-3 with a double and an RBI.

Holliday paced the Trailblazers, finishing 1-for-3 with an RBI double.

Taylor Colvin (Lancaster, Mass.) picked up the win for Fitchburg State, tossing 2.1 innings of perfect relief with one strikeout.

Samantha Feinstein (South Yarmouth, Mass.) took the loss for MCLA, giving up just two runs on four hits with eight K’s in the complete game effort.