WESTON, Mass. – Led by strong defense, effective pitching and timely hitting the Regis College softball team swept New England Collegiate Conference opponent Mitchell College Saturday afternoon at Regis Field. The wins move the Crimson and Gold to 7-5 and 3-1 in league play while the Mariners fall to 2-16 and 1-3 in the conference.
Game One: Regis 1, Mitchell 0
The Pride earned their second 1-0 victory over the last three games as reigning NECC Pitcher of the Week Katie Cuozzo (Lynn, Mass.) twirled another gem. The senior hurler pitched another complete game shutout allowing only seven hits, one walk while striking out three batters. She also moved to 4-1 on the season with the victory and went 1-for-2 at the dish with a stolen base.
Mitchell's one, two and three hitters went a combined 6-for-12 (.500) against Cuozzo while the rest of the lineup was 1-for-18 (.056) against the right hander.
Regis opened up the scoring in the bottom of the second as Alyssa McKinnon (Rowley, Mass.) led off the inning with a single to left field. A batter later, Cuozzo stepped to the plate and pulled a single down the left field line that advanced her teammate to third base. With runners at the corners, Cuozzo stole second while sophomore backstop Alexa Nejaime (Sandisfield, Mass.) was in the batter's box and on the next pitch Nejaime roped a single up the middle that scored McKinnon which was the only run of the contest. Nejaime stole second with Kirbie Garvey (Littleton, Mass.) at bat putting two insurance runs in scoring position with one out, but Mitchell starter Brittany Fiederlein (E. Hampton, Conn.) worked out of trouble inducing an unassisted groundout to first base and a popup to shortstop to end the frame.
Mitchell had a chance to tie the score during the top of the third when senior infielder Shannon O'Neil (Chicopee, Mass.) reached base via a walk to load the bases. The next batter Fiederlein stroked a ball on the ground to Pride shortstop Brianna Napoleone (Medford, Mass.) who never hesitated and rifled a throw home to Alexa Nejaime who tapped the plate for the 6-2 putout. Cuozzo got Danielle Autieri (N. Salem, N.Y.) to line out to left fielder Angelica Arredondo (Merrimac, Mass.) which stranded three runners on base and ended the Mariner scoring threat.
Mitchell's final scoring chance came in the top of the fifth but it was thwarted by a fine defensive play by the Crimson and Gold. With Jacquelyn White (Danville, Vt.) on second base, sophomore catcher Samantha DelConte (Enfield, Conn.) lined a ball to Kirbie Garvey who squeezed the ball for the first out of the inning. Garvey's keen awareness was showcased as she saw that White took too many steps towards third base. The senior captain rifled the ball to Napoleone who was covering the second base bag and the freshman tagged White out completing the double play. O'Neil flied out to Garvey to end the inning and the hopes of a Mariner comeback.
Game Two: Regis 2, Mitchell 1 – 8 Innings
Lisa Lusardi (Enfield, Conn.) got the ball in game two for the Pride and delivered seven innings of one run ball, allowing only five hits, two walks and striking out five batters. Katie Cuozzo came on in the extra frame, got a double play and struck out one batter. Cuozzo was the pitcher of record as she earned her fifth win of the season and dropped her NECC league leading ERA to a microscopic 1.40.
Regis got the first run of the contest in the bottom of the fourth after a McKinnon walk, an Alysa DiFruscia (Tewksbury, Mass.) fielder's choice, a Lusardi single, and an Allie Petillo (W. Sayville, N.Y.) single opened the door for Michaela Nejaime (Sandisfield, Mass.) with the bases juiced and only one out. Nejaime got the job done as she hit a dribbler down the first base line that was fielded by game two starter Fiederlein and the junior flamethrower tossed the ball to first for the easy out scoring Kelsey Grimard (Pelham, N.H.) who pinch ran for DiFruscia. Nejaime's groundout gave the Pride a 1-0 lead.
The top half of the fifth began with Michaela Nejaime showing her fielding prowess. The senior captain sprawled out to her right, and got her uniform dirty as she made a diving stop snaring the ball before it reached the outfield taking a hit away from Mariner senior outfielder Jenny Groman (New Brittan, Conn.).
Mitchell scored in the top of the seventh as an O'Neil double, a Feiderlein single and stolen base put runners in scoring position with no one out. Danielle Autieri (N. Salem, N.Y.) lofted a ball high into foul territory that was corralled by Michaela Nejaime who made a sliding catch for the first out, but Taylor Duchesneau (Killingly, Conn.) tagged up from third base to knot the score up 1-1. Lusardi allowed a walk to put runners at the corners with only one out, but struck out Nia Brown (New York, N.Y.) looking and got Janelle Rice (Meriden, Conn.) to ground out to third to end the top of the seventh.
Regis couldn't get anything going in the bottom half of the inning so the contest headed into extra frames.
With the extra inning rules in place Janelle Rice was placed at second base to begin the top of the eighth. Katie Cuozzo replaced Lusardi on the bump and saw immediate results thanks to her defense. Cuozzo allowed hard contact to Suzanne Vachon (E. Hartford, Conn.), but the hard hit ball was right at Michaela Nejaime. Nejaime saw that Rice left the bag before she caught the ball and fired the rock to Brianna Napoleone who tagged out Rice at second for a clutch double play. Cuozzo rebounded as she struck out Jacquelyn White to end the inning.
With McKinnon getting placed at second, Alysa DiFruscia sacrificed herself which advanced McKinnon to third base. Cuozzo stepped to the plate next and grounded out to the shortstop. With two outs, Allie Petillo, who was already 2-for-3 in the contest roped a first pitch single that deflected off the pitchers glove and squirted past the shortstop for the game winning hit.
Regis returns to the field tomorrow when they travel to NECC opponent Lesley for a doubleheader at 12:00 and 2:00 p.m. while Mitchell hosts conference foe Bay Path at 12:00 & 2:00 p.m. tomorrow as well.