NEW LONDON, Conn. – The Mitchell College softball team needed a late
surge to cap off a doubleheader sweep of Bay Path University on Sunday
afternoon in New England Collegiate Conference play at Alumni Field.
After winning the opener by a 4-2 final, the Mariners rallied for three
runs in the bottom of the seventh to claim a 5-4 victory in the second
game. Brittany Fiederlein
delivered a walk-off single up the middle to plate the winning run, one
of three hits in the game for the right-handed hurler. She also picked
up a pair of wins inside the circle on the day – the first in a starting
role and the second in relief – and struck out a total of 18 batters.
Mitchell (4-16 overall) evened its record at 3-3 in NECC play. The
Mariners will next host Daniel Webster College on Tuesday, April 12 at 3
p.m. Bay Path (5-15 overall, 2-6 NECC) returns to action at home
against MCLA on Tuesday at 3 p.m.
Game 1 – Mitchell 4, Bay Path 2
Mitchell jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Samantha DelConte got things started
with a two-out single, and Shannon O'Neil
followed with a double down the left field line that kicked up chalk.
After a wild pitch brought DelConte home with the game's first run, Danielle Autieri knocked in the second with a double down the left field line.
The Mariners tacked on another run in the second on an RBI single through the left side of the infield by Jacquelyn White that scored Suzanne Vachon
from second base. O'Neil then led off the third inning with an opposite
field homer, her first of the season, to extend the lead to 4-0.
Bay Path put two runners in scoring position with no outs in the seventh
thanks to consecutive singles from Casey Botelho and Paige Marshall.
After Fiederlein picked up the first out via strikeout, Gretchen Hale
put a ball into play to score a run, and a Mitchell throwing error on
the play brought in another. The Wildcats eventually put the tying run
on base with two down, but Fiederlein got a pop up to end the game.
Fiederlein finished with a season-high 11 strikeouts and yielded only
one earned run over 7.0 innings. Madison Goodhart took the loss for the
Wildcats, surrendering four runs (three earned) on seven hits in 6.0
innings of work.
Game 2 – Mitchell 5, Bay Path 4
The Wildcats sent nine batters to the plate in the third inning and
pushed across four runs on five hits to seize the early lead. All of the
damage came with two outs, as Marissa Sarna-McCarthy drove in two runs
with a looping single to shallow left with the bases loaded. A Mitchell
error then extended the inning and allowed another run to score, and
Krystal Fredette followed with an RBI single to complete the rally.
The Mariners got two runs back in the fourth on a two-out, two-run single to center by Taylor Duchesneau.
Mitchell threatened again in the sixth, but Goodhart worked out of a
tough spot to strand two runners with the two-run lead intact.
Nia Brown
ignited the Mitchell rally in the seventh with a single up the middle,
and Vachon and White each followed with infield singles to load the
bases. DelConte then hit a squib shot down the first base line, forcing
Fredette to come home for the force. The throw got away from the catcher
and allowed both Brown and Vachon to score to tie the game. After an
intentional walk to O'Neil loaded the bases once more, Fiederlein came
through with a shot back up the box to score the game-winning run.
Fiederlein took over pitching duties in the fourth and yielded only two
hits over 4.0 scoreless innings. She struck out seven of the 16 batters
she face and improved to 4-9 on the season.
Sarna-McCarthy went 3-for-4 with two RBI for the Wildcats while Goodhart
also finished with a pair of hits. Goodhart also took the loss in the
circle after allowing five runs (three earned) on nine hits over 6.0
innings.
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