Softball ends season with win to earn split with Salem State

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass.—The MCLA Softball team ended its 2023 season on a high note taking down Salem State 18-8 in 5 innings in game two of this afternoon's MASCAC doubleheader played at Mount Greylock Regional High School. The Vikings bested the Trailblazers in the opener 16-8. With the split, Salem ends its year with a 10-29 (2-12 MASCAC) record, while MCLA finishes 8-26 (2-12 MASCAC).

Game One         Salem State 16              MCLA 8

Ella Staffier's (2-for-4, RBI) double in the bottom of the 1^st would score Madison Teta to tie the game 1-1 and a Maggie Closinski (2-for-3, RBI) RBI single which brought home Sarah McMahon (1-for-3) in the bottom of the 3^rd gave MCLA a short-lived 2-1 advantage.

After Salem pushed four runs across the plate to go ahead 5-2 in the top of the 4^th, a Lidia Flores (2-for-4, 3 RBI) double which scored Staffier and Closinski, followed by a Madyson Torres (2-for-4 ,HR, 3 RBI) base hit that brought Hailey Peabody (1-for-4) home would tie the game again at 5-5 after five innings of play.

Still tied in the 7^th the Vikings pounded out eight hits and took advantage of a pair of MCLA errors to erupt for 11 runs to put the game away. A Flores base hit scoring Peabody and a two-run homer off the bat of Torres in the bottom half of the inning would produce the 16-8 final.

Rebecca Walker (3-for-5, 2 RBI), Sydney Rodriguez (4-for-5, RBI), Dawn Eisnor (2-for-5, 2 RBI), Janae Santos (3-for-4, RBI) and Isabella Perrotti (2-for-4, 2 RBI) keyed the Viking offense.

Salem starting pitcher Emily Carter (W, 5-4) earned the win going the distance allowing 8 runs (seven earned) with two walks and one strikeout. Lidia Flores (L, 4-11) took the loss for MCLA allowing 8 runs (six earned) on eleven hits with two walks and two strikeouts.

Game Two         MCLA 18                           Salem State 8    (5 innings)

Down 2-0 in the bottom of the 1^st, the Trailblazers had their monster inning of the day scoring 12 runs in the home-half. After a two-run homerun by Peabody (1-for-4, HR, 2 RBI) tied the game at 2-2, the floodgates opened as MCLA exploded for 9 hits in the inning and were the beneficiaries of three Salem State errors. Justina Pardi (1-for-2, RBI) and McMahon (3-for-3, 2 RBI) would each drive in a run while Closinski (1-for-3, 2 RBI) and Staffier (1-for-4, RBI) produced a pair of RBIs each. A three-run blast by Torres (1-for-2, HR, 3 RBI) would serve as the exclamation point on the inning and make it 12-2 after one.

Salem rallied for five runs in the top of the 2^nd including a two-run homer run by Eisner (1-for-2, 2 RBI), and they would get one more in the 3^rd to make it game at 12-8.

But the MCLA offense would produce another big inning adding six runs to their lead to make it 18-8 after three. Abby Bird's (1-for-1, 2 RBI) two-RBI single followed by another McMahon RBI base hit and a three-run homer by Teta (3-for-4, HR, 3 RBI) would give the Trailblazers all they needed as reliever Sarah Williams allowed only one hit in two shutout innings to close the Vikings out in five innings.

MCLA starting pitcher Gabriella Cozzolino (W, 1-6) went three innings and was credited with her first win of the season while Salem starter Katherine Quigley (L, 4-7) took the loss for the Vikings.