Rich, Cacciola Pace Softball In Wins Over Lancaster Bible and Concordia (WI)

Clermont, FL --- Junior Meghan Rich (Chelmsford, MA) fired a one-hit, five inning shutout in a 8-0 victory over Lancaster Bible and freshman Danielle Cacciola (Tewksbury, MA) had the game-winning base-knock in a 3-2 eight inning triumph over Concordia (WI) to help pace Worcester State in a pair of wins on Thursday evening.

The Lancers (7-1) hammered out 10 hits in the opener against the Chargers (2-4) as junior Corrie Derosier (Shrewsbury, MA/Holy Name) and freshman Kayla Humphrey (Wallingford, CT) both had two safeties each.

In a three-run top of the first, Terry and Rich sandwiched RBI triples between a Humphrey single to left center that scored another run.

The Blue and Gold tacked on three more scores in the fourth to go up 7-0. Sophomore Rachel Couto (Chelmsford, MA) registered a two-run double as freshman Samantha Rivers (Leicester, MA) added one more tally by coming home from third on an infield miscue.

Humphrey capped off the frame with an RBI single for her second of the contest.

WSU enforced the eight-run rule in the top of the fifth when junior Sara Pelletier (Leominster, MA) rapped out a pinch-hit run scoring single up the middle.

Rich (3-0) retired seven of her first eight batters before permitting a solo knock to left field in the bottom of the third. She then closed out the contest by setting down the last eight batters in order.

Rich issued one walk, in the first inning, and fanned six on 56 pitches (37 for strikes).

In the nightcap, the Lancers snapped a scoreless game in the bottom of the third when junior Hayley Terry (N. Dighton, MA) brought home Couto with an RBI single through the right side. Couto led off the frame with her team-best fifth double of the season.

Worcester State went up by two in the bottom of the fourth when Couto plated junior Jillian Witkowski (Leicester, MA) with two outs on the board.

Concordia, however, tied up the score 2-2 on a key two-run double in the top of the fifth by freshman Jaime Rieser (Ingleside, IL).

In the bottom of the seventh, sophomore Courtney Salisbury (Cranston, RI) hammered a double to lead off the, but freshman Emily Brekke (Waterford, WI) bore down and jammed the next three batters with fly outs.

With a runner placed at second to start off the top of the eighth, Humphrey rung up the first batter looking on strikes and got out of a jam as the Falcons threatened with runners on the corners.

In the bottom of the eighth, Worcester State ended it by taking advantage of the only miscue of the entire game. Humphrey helped out her own cause by reaching on a misplayed ball by the third baseman.

Brekke did induce a ground out to get the lead runner at second in the very next at-bat, but Cacciola came through for the Lancers with a game-winning RBI single to left center to give WSU the hard-fought victory.

Humphrey (3-1) yielded two earned runs on four hits to go with a pair of walks and two strikeouts in eight full innings of work.

Salisbury, Couto and Hanley led a 12-hit attack in the final game of the day.

Worcester State ends their Florida trip with Utica at 1 PM and Wisconsin River-Falls in a 3 o'clock matchup. Both games will take place at Hancock Park.