Hannah Gilbert Tosses No Hitter as Softball Sweep SUNY Cobleskill

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. – The MCLA Softball team opened its 2026 home slate this afternoon with a doubleheader this afternoon, welcoming the SUNY Cobleskill Fighting Tigers to Shewcraft Field. The MCLA bats were red hot in this non-conference matchup with the Trailblazers posting a pair of mercy rule wins while Allie Mienaltowski and Hannah Gilbert each tossed gems to lead MCLA to a sweep.

THE BASICS:

• Date: Wednesday, March 25, 2026
• Game #1: SUNY Cobleskill 2, MCLA 17
• Game #2: SUNY Cobleskill 0, MCLA 8
• Records: SUNY Cobleskill Fighting Tigers 5-5 (NAC 0-0) | MCLA Trailblazers 3-7 (MASCAC 0-0)
• Series History: MCLA now leads the all-time series 7-6. The teams split a doubleheader in their last meeting with MCLA taking the first game 8-2 and Cobleskill the second 5-4 on April 24, 2024. The Fighting Tigers won the first-ever meeting of the teams by the score of 9-6 in Cobleskill on May 1, 1975.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Game #1
  • SUNY Cobleskill scored the first run of the game in the top of the second inning. Gabriella Wendelken led off the frame with a triple into the right-center field gap. Two batters later would score on Avery Prievo's fielder's choice ground ball to the shortstop.
  • The third inning saw MCLA explode on the offensive side, the Trailblazers posted 17 runs on 14 hits, with seven of the 14 hits being for extra bases.
  • Nevaeh Lopez (Pittsfield, MA) brought home the first run with a double to leftfield, Maggie Closinski (Rome, NY) followed with a double to the gap in left center to trade places, with Lopez. Then Closinski scored on Hannah Gilbert's (Colrain, MA) triple to the same left-center gap before Paxton Ebling (Pittsfield, MA) chased the Tigers' starting pitcher with a double down the left field line.
  • Amelia Leasure (Pittsfield, MA) welcomed the new Cobleskill arm into the game with an RBI single to left field before moving to this on Alexandra Espel's (Acra, NY) double to left. Leasure scored on Hannah Mitchem's (Baltimore, MD) infield single. Mitchem then stole second, while drawing a throw that allowed Espel to scamper away with a steal of home. Mitchem then scored when Miranda Ranzoni (Adams, MA) dropped down a bunt for an infield single. Realizing Ranzoni would be safe, the Tiger's pitcher made an attempt on Mitchem at third but had the throw bounce off Mitchem's helmet to let the junior score to make the score 8-0 MCLA.
  • After a Hailey Peabody (W. Springfield, MA) bunt single, Lopez then picked up her second and third RBI of the game with a single into center field. Lopez then stole third before scoring on Gilbert's RBI groundout.
  • Ebling reached base for the second time in the frame, this time via a hit by pitch and then scored on a Leasure's double down the left field line.The frame ended with an RBI single by Mitchem, a bases clearing, three-run double by Peabody, and Lopez's fourth RBI of the inning on a single to center field.
  • Cobleskill would get one run back in the top of the fourth inning on an RBI single by Prievo.
  • Allie Mienaltowski (Delanson, NY) went the distance for the Trailblazers, allowing only two runs on two hits and striking out two, advancing her record to 1-3. Gabriella Wendelken absorbed the loss for the visitors, falling to 2-2.
• Game #2
  • The MCLA bats stayed warm in the second game with the Trailblazers scoring in the third, fourth and fifth innings. The third inning rally started with a Peabody single back through the middle of the infield and an RBI triple to the right-center gap by Lopez. Closinski then swapped placed with a double to right. After passed ball moved her to third, she scored on Gilbert's double to right field.
  • MCLA added a single run in the fourth on an RBI double by Lopez after Peabody had reached on a two-out single.
  • The Trailblazers were able to walk the game off with four runs on three hits in the fifth to invoke a mercy rule win. Aided by a pair of errors, Gilbert and Mienaltowski scored a pair of runs before Peabody and Lopez drove in two more.
  • Gilbert was untouchable in the second game, facing only one batter over the minimum while no-hitting the Tigers on 61 pitches, striking out three, improving her record to 2-2 for the season.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE

• The Trailblazers 17 run third inning in the first game was the most MCLA scored in one inning since the team started keeping a digital record in 2008. It topped a 16-run first inning that the Trailblazers posted against Mass. Maritime Academy on April 1, 2012.
• The 17 runs scored in the first game were also the most that the Trailblazers have scored since they scored 19 runs at Framingham State on April 6, 2024.
• Gilbert's no-hitter in the second game was the first by an MCLA pitcher since Rachel Quackenbush tossed a five-inning no-hitter in the Trailblazers 15-0 win over Southern Vermont on March 31, 2016.

UP NEXT:

On Sunday, MCLA will be back in action when it plays host to VTSU-Johnson at Shewcraft Field for a non-conference matchup with the Badgers. The first pitch is scheduled for noon.

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