Lancers Split Twinbill with Anchorwomen

WORCESTER, Mass. – After falling to the Rhode Island College Anchorwomen 6-1 in the first game of the afternoon, Worcester State won game two as senior Hayley Terry (N. Dighton, Mass.) registered the game-winning hit, scoring teammate Corrie Derosier (Shrewsbury, Mass.) in to conclude the ballgame at 5-4 in the Lancers' favor. With the split, the Lancers move to 11-13-1 on the season, while the Anchorwomen stand at 11-9.

GAME ONE: Rhode Island College 6, Worcester State 1

Rhode Island College took the scoring advantage early on, as they plated two runs in the top of the 1^st on a sacrifice fly from Nicole Venturini (N. Scituate, RI) and an RBI-double from Chelsea Schott (Meriden, Conn.).

Worcester was able to reach the scoreboard with one run in the bottom of the 3^rd as Rhode Island College's defense committed an error.

The Anchorwomen added another run in the top of the 5^th inning on an RBI-double from Venturini. They then added three security runs in the top of the 7^th as the bases were loaded with two outs, and a fly ball to right center slipped out of Worcester's glove, resulting in three unearned runs to seal the 6-1 victory.

Leading the Anchorwomen was Lauren Discuillo (E. Providence, RI) and Michaela DeAngelis (N. Providence, RI), who both batted .666 (2-3). Venturini led the team with a game-high two RBI, as Emma Simmons (Saunderstown, RI) crossed the plate with a team high three runs. Offensively, for the Lancers, Hayley Terry (N. Dighton, Mass.) and Taylor Daniels (Norco, Calif.) both marked doubles against the Anchorwomen, as they batted 2-for-3 and 2-for-4, respectively.

Rhode Island College's Discuillo marked the win on the stripe, as she pitched a complete game and only gave up one run (unearned) on seven hits. Worcester's Julie Melanson (Gardner, Mass.) suffered the loss as she also pitched a complete game and allowed six runs (three unearned) on nine hits while striking out five batters at the plate.

GAME TWO: Worcester State 5, Rhode Island College 4 (8 innings)

After falling to the Anchorwomen in game one, it looked as if the Lancers were going to fall behind once again as the Anchorwomen held a 3-0 advantage going into the fifth inning. They scored one run in the top of the 2^nd as Katelyn McCaughey (Warwick, RI) hit an RBI-single through the right side, and added in two more in the top of the 3^rd on bats from Briana Gough (W. Warwick, RI) and Kelsey Wood (N. Dighton, Mass.).

Though, the Lancers came back with two runs in the bottom of the 5^th (3-2), from where they knotted it up at 4-4 following the 6^th inning when Rhode Island College chipped in one and the Lancers rounded out two runs in the bottom half.

Going into the extra innings with the international tiebreaker (runner on second base to start inning), the Lancers shut the Anchorwomen down in the top, as they marked 1-2-3 plays. They then scored their game-winning run in the bottom of the 8^th on Hayley Terry's (N. Dighton, Mass.) single through the left side, scoring Corrie Derosier (Shrewsbury, Mass.) at the plate for the 5-4 triumph.

Worcester's Courtney Salisbury (Cranston, RI) and Sydney Despres (Sterling, Mass.) registered perfect batting averages, as Salisbury went 5-for-5 and Despres went 4-for-4. They each logged a double apiece, along with Dakota Smith-Porter to tally up three for the team. For the Anchorwomen, Lauren Duvall (E. Greenwich, RI) and Wood both batted at the .500 mark.  

Lancers' pitcher, Kayla Humphrey (Wallingford, Conn.) improved to 4-1 on the season, as she pitched all eight innings and only allowed one earned run. For Rhode Island College, Gough suffered the loss as she pitched 7.2 innings and struck out five batters.

The Lancers return to action on Saturday for a MASCAC matchup against Framingham State starting at 12 noon. Rhode Island College also has a conference doubleheader on Saturday (Apr. 16) as they travel to UMass Boston for a 1 p.m. start time.