Softball Splits With Cougars in Cross Town Battle

Worcester, MA- After kicking off their conference schedule this past weekend, the Lancers Softball team (4-12, 0-2) have jumped back out of conference to take on the Clark Cougars in a rain shifted meeting between the two teams.

Final

Worcester State: 2

Clark: 4

How it Happened:

Both Worcester State and Clark University opened the game with sharp pitching and clean defenses.  A four run rally from Clark in the bottom of the second inning proved to be the difference, with the Cougars taking control and seizing opportunities early.  

Worcester State continued to have consistent contact at the plate, but struggled to find the gaps and to find their way on base until the top of the seventh. Senior Morgan Keefe (Dracut, MA) sent the ball deep to left field landing herself on second base, sending senior Bella Gasbarro (Leominster, MA) home for the Lancers first run of the game. Keeping the anticipation high, sophomore Laurel Field (Jefferson, MA) singled to right field, sending pinch runner first year Mackenzie Roy (Fitchburg, MA) home to finish off the game 4-2 as the Lancers were unable to overcome the deficit.

Junior Taylor Coonan (Grafton, MA) went six innings for the Lancers striking out two.

Final

Worcester State: 4

Clark: 2

How it Happened:

It was another tight battle in game two between the Lancers and Cougars as the two teams remained scoreless through two innings. Both lineups came alive early and kept the pressure on. Keefe would open up the action in the top of the third as she doubled to left field, sending across junior Cali Brouillard (Millbury, MA) for the first run of the game. 

The bottom of the inning found Clark sent across two runs and nearly a third, until an illegal batter was in the rotation negating the third run of the inning. 

The fourth inning again found Brouillard, who doubled to right field allowing senior Bailey Tammaro (Fitchburg, MA) to capitalize off an error in the sequence to score the tying run. The top of the fourth would see a single to right field by senior Amanda Adamuska (Dudley, MA) to bring in the name of the game in Brouillard for the leading run.

The top of the seventh had the Lancers looking to add some breathing room to clinch the win as Keefe managed to get on base and senior Carisa Andrews (Medford, MA) would pinch run and steal second before first year Zoie Stevens (Claremont, NH) would nail a ball down the left field line for two runners on with just a single out. A bit of defensive indifference would find Stevens stealing second but while Worcester would work their counts it would take the speed of Roy to beat out a grounder at first for Andrews to add run four to the tally. Junior Peyton Maloney (West Boylston, MA) would hold steady at the bottom of the seventh to claim the flipped score 4-2 win.

First year Kendra Burke (Ware, MA) would claim the win, going four innings and claiming two strikeouts with Maloney adding in an additional six in her three innings of work. 

What's Next:

Softball (5-13, 0-2) will remain out of conference for their next set of games as they head to Emmanuel for a 5pm start on Thursday, April 2nd.