(Courtesy of Fitchburg State Sports Information)
FITCHBURG, Mass. – Fitchburg State and MCLA spilt the season series this afternoon as the Falcons posted a 5-4, 12 inning victory in game one before dropping the second game, 1-0 in Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) softball action at Donna Lee Withington Field this afternoon.
In the first game, Fitchburg State broke a 4-4 stalemate in the bottom of the 12th inning as sophomore Jessalynne Brown laced a one out single into the left center field gap to plate freshman Emily Comtois, who was placed on second due to the international tie breaker rule for the game winning run.
The Falcons opened the scoring in the bottom of the fourth as junior Marissa Gemma singled down the left field line, advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt from senior Marissa Binnall, and scored on a base knock by Kerr for the 1-0 advantage.
MCLA knotted the score (1-1) in the top of the fifth inning when junior
Michaela DiNicola reached on a two out double to left, moved to third on base hit from sophomore
Alexandra Romano, and crossed the plate on a double off the bat of Quackenbush to force extra innings.
The score remained 1-1 in the top of the tenth frame before the Trailblazers grabbed their first lead of the contest, scoring three runs on four hits. Junior
Sierra Bailey drove in classmate
Jennifer Sicinski before newcomer
Julie Watson and senior
Amanda Meczywor connected on back-to-back RBI singles for the 4-1 margin.
The Green and Gold responded with three runs of their own in their half of the tenth as Brown singled home senior Brittany Whiting, while sophomore Terri Ferrazzani drove in Brown and senior Amanda Whitelaw on a fielders choice to short and a throwing miscue to make the score 4-4, setting the stages for Brown's game-winning hit in the bottom of the 12th.
Sophomore Galen Kerr picked up the win for Fitchburg State, allowing four runs (3 earned) on 17 hits with seven strikeouts, while junior
Rachel Quackenbush yielded five runs (two earned) on eight hits and 14 K's in the losing effort.
MCLA was paced by DiNicola, who finished 3-for-6 with a double and one run scored, while Watson collected three hits and an RBI. Offensively for Fitchburg State, Brown led the way, going 2-for-5, including two runs batted in and one run scored, while Kerr and Gemma combined for four hits with two doubles, one run scored and one RBI.
In the nightcap, MCLA rebounded, scoring the lone run of the contest in the top of the sixth inning to earn the season spilt.
Game two featured a pitching duel as Merczywor outlasted Whiting. Merczywor finished the contest by giving up just four hits with four punchouts for MCLA before giving way to Quackenbush, who picked up her first save of the season, striking out four of the five batters she faced.
Whiting took the loss of the Falcons, allowing one run on seven hits with five K's in the complete game effort
With the score 0-0 in the sixth inning, MCLA finally dented the score board in the top half of the stanza as Quackenbush singled through the right side with two outs and came around to score on a double to right to take a 1-0 advantage.
The Falcons would threaten in the bottom of the sixth with one out, when Comtois doubled to left field, and moved to third on a fielding error to put runners on second and third. Quackenbush entered in relief of Merczywor, forcing a pop up and strikeout to work out the jam, resulting in the 1-0 game two shutout win for MCLA.
At the plate, Comtois led the way for Fitchburg State, collecting a double, while Gemma, Binnall and Brown notched the Falcons' other hits. Lucas paced the Trailblazers game two offense, hitting 2-for-3 with a pair of doubles and one RBI, while Quackenbush registered one hit and a run scored.
Fitchburg State (9-6, 4-2 MASCAC) returns to action on Tuesday as it hosts the Lancers of Worcester State for a double header starting at 3 p.m. MCLA (5-13, 2-2 MASCAC) will visit Westfield State on Tuesday for a twin billing starting at 2 p.m.
