FORT MYERS, Fla. – Regis College suffered a pair of setbacks on day two of the Gene Cusic Classic in Fort Myers, Fla. on Monday morning. Bridgewater State defeated the Pride, 10- 2, in game one of the day and the Rochester Institute of Technology used a walk-off homerun in the sixth inning of game two to best the Pride, 11-2. Jasmyn Welch (Wells, Maine) hit a homerun in game one and added an RBI single in game two for the Pride (0-3).
In game one, Bridgewater grabbed an early 3-0 lead in the first inning as they took advantage of a pair of wild pitches and a sacrifice fly. Both pitchers settled into a groove as Regis' Samantha Bliss (Framingham, Mass.) and Bridgewater's Meghan Dunn kept the opposing teams off the scoreboard over the next three innings.
Kendra Abram (Acushnet, Mass.) started the bottom of the fourth inning with a single to third and was sacrificed to second by Christine O'Toole (Wareham, Mass.). With two outs, Jasmyn Welch stepped to the plate and drove a Dunn offering over the fence in centerfield, cutting the deficit to 3-2.
Bridgewater would respond with a seven-run top of the fifth, including a grandslam by Courtney Gregoire that broke the game open, en route to the 10-2 win.
Welch, Abram and Katie Blackburn (Milford, Mass.) each had hits for the Pride, with Welch driving in both runs. Samantha Bliss went five innings, allowing 10 runs – six earned – while giving up only five hits but walking seven with three strikeouts.
In game two, back-to-back extra basehits by the Tigers drove in a pair of runs as RIT took a 2-0 lead in the first inning. The Tigers added one more in the third on an RBI groundout to make it 3-0 and followed that up with a solo homerun to make it 4-0 headed into the fourth.
The Pride got on the board in the top of the fourth as Christine O'Toole and Kara Donovan (Woburn, Mass.) forced back-to-back walks to start the inning. Jasmyn Welch stepped to the plate and drove the first pitch she saw over the third baseman's head, plating O'Toole and making it a 4-1 game.
Trailing 7-1, Dominique Pacitto (Bellingham, Mass.) picked up her first collegiate RBI with a groundout that scored Samantha Bliss, who had tripled in her at-bat. That would be as close as the Pride would get, as Tori Nadow hit a walk-off grandslam to end the game and seal the 11-2 win for the Tigers.
Abrams, O'Toole, Welch and Bliss each had hits for the Pride. Emily Pickett (Wrentham, Mass.) and Bliss combined for 5.1 innings, allowing six hits and four earned runs apiece.
The Pride wrap up their spring break trip with a pair of games on Tuesday afternoon. The Pride take on Haverford at 1:00 p.m. and follow that with a 3:00 p.m. game against Eastern Nazarene at 3:00 p.m.
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