MOUNT IDA SOFTBALL
Wednesday, March 28, 2018
Judy Groff Field, Springfield, Mass.
GAME #1 FINAL: FITCHBURG STATE 3, MOUNT IDA 2 (9 INNINGS)
GAME #2 FINAL: FITCHBURG STATE 5, MOUNT IDA 0
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- Sophomore Mikayla Harnois (Attleboro, Mass.) tossed a complete-game three-hit shutout and struck out five to lift Fitchburg State to a 5-0 nightcap victory over Mount Ida to complete a sweep of a non-league college softball doubleheader played Wednesday afternoon at American International’s Judy Groff Field. In the opener, the Falcons received a walk-off single from junior Michelle LeBlanc (Ashburnham, Mass.) in the bottom of the ninth to post a 3-2 triumph.
Fitchburg State (4-10) grabbed a 1-0 fourth inning lead in the opener on an RBI double by sophomore McKenzie Lambert (Wilbraham, Mass.), but Mount Ida (2-10) took a 2-1 edge in the top of the fifth on back-to-back run scoring singles from freshmen Caitlin Hogan (Derry, N.H.) and Madeleine Smith (San Diego, Calif.). The Falcons evened matters in the bottom half of the frame on junior Maddie Medina’s (Pelham, N.H.) RBI single, and that score held up until the bottom of the ninth when Lambert (who was placed on second with the international tie breaker) scored the game-winner on LeBlanc’s walk-off single to center.
Junior Nicole Sylvester (Everett, Mass.) rapped out three of Fitchburg State’s nine hits in the opening triumph, as Medina and Lambert collected two hits each in the lid-lifter. Freshman Taylor Colvin (Lancaster, Mass.) went the distance to pick up her second win of the season inside the circle for the Falcons, as she scattered nine hits and fanned four along the way. Hogan and Smith each had two hits in the first game setback for the Mustangs, as Smith also went the distance in allowing just two earned runs and fanning three.
Fitchburg State took a 2-0 lead in its first at-bat of the nightcap on LeBlanc’s RBI single and an error, and the Falcons extended that margin to 3-0 in the fourth on junior Michelle Keenan’s (Boston, Mass.) run scoring single before adding a pair of unearned tallies in the fifth frame to complete the sweep. Harnois walked one while scattering three hits to pick up her first win of the spring inside the circle for Fitchburg State, as two of the singles she allowed came off the bat of Mustang freshman Savannah Neilan (Somerset, Mass.). Freshman Carrigan Costello (Wolcott, Conn.) allowed seven hits and struck out three over the first five innings to suffer the setback inside the circle for Mount Ida.
The Mustangs head into Boston on Saturday afternoon to take on Simmons in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference doubleheader beginning at 2:00 p.m., while Fitchburg State travels to Wenham, Mass. tomorrow afternoon for a non-league twinbill with Gordon that begins at 3:00 p.m.