Extra-Inning Losses Knock Softball Out of NECC Championship
| Final (11) | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Mitchell | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 5 |
|
Becker | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 11 | 1 |
| Final (11) | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Mitchell | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 5 |
|
Becker | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 11 | 1 |
| Final (9) | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Newbury | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 3 |
|
Mitchell | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 9 | 2 |
| Final (9) | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Newbury | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 3 |
|
Mitchell | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 9 | 2 |
NEW LONDON, Conn. – Elms College came away with a pair of wins on the first day of double-elimination play at the 2015 New England Collegiate Conference Softball Championship and secured a spot in the title round.
The second-seeded Blazers (19-12 overall) defeated third-seeded Becker College 2-0 before posting a 6-4 win against fourth-seeded Newbury College. Elms will be making its third appearance in the NECC title round and first since 2011.
Newbury (20-12 overall) began the day with an upset of top-seeded Mitchell College by a 4-3 final in nine innings.
Becker and Mitchell faced off in the loser's bracket in a game that lasted 11 innings, the longest in the conference's postseason history. The Hawks (19-13 overall) walked off with a 3-2 win to remain in the tournament while the Mariners (17-15 overall) were eliminated.
The NECC Softball Championship continues with two games on Saturday, May 2 at Mitchell's Alumni Field. Becker and Newbury will square off at noon, and the winner will advance to the title round to face Elms at 2 p.m. If necessary, a winner-take-all final game would be played on Sunday, May 3 at 1 p.m.
Game 1 – Newbury 4, Mitchell 3 (9 innings)
A pair of Mitchell errors proved costly in the opening game as Newbury scored the go-ahead run in the ninth and held on to pull off the upset. The Nighthawks extended their school record winning streak to 11 and handed the Mariners their first home loss of the season.
The first scoring chance came in the second inning when Brittany Fiederlein delivered a one-out double into the left field corner for the game's first hit. Olivia Kenyon got out of the inning unscathed by fanning the next two batters to keep the game scoreless.
Mitchell caught a bad break in the third as Newbury's Julia Flamenco lifted a ball deep into the right-center gap. Right fielder Janelle Rice gloved it initially but took two steps and spilled over the fence and dropped the ball. After a conference by the three umpires, the ball was ruled a home run and the Nighthawks took a 1-0 lead. The long ball was Flamenco's first of the season and fourth of her career.
Newbury's lead was short-lived as Mitchell struck for three runs in the home half of the third. Rivkah Berkman led off with a slap single and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Tanisha Ruiz. Berkman then advanced to third on a failed pickoff attempt and scored on a ground ball by Samantha DelConte to tie the game. Mitchell later took the lead on a two-out RBI double by Shannon O'Neil and made it 3-1 on a RBI single up the middle by Fiederlein.
The Nighthawks responded with two runs in the fourth. Kenyon drew a walk and later scored all the way from first base on a two-out double down the left field line by Naomi Ricciotti. Emily Humphries followed with a double of her own to deep left that tied the game at 3-3.
DelConte led off the Mitchell fifth with a single to left and moved into scoring position on a sacrifice. However, Kenyon once again stranded the go-ahead run at second base by retiring the next two Mitchell batters.
Newbury threatened in the sixth when Sheri Liggiero led off with a triple to center field. After the next batter popped up for the first out, Lindsey Clark sent a fly ball to shallow center that was caught by Jenny Groman. Liggiero attempted to tag up on the play, but Groman fired home to cut down the go-ahead run at the plate. Both pitchers retired the side in order in the seventh to send the game to extra innings. With no international tiebreaker rule in effect in the postseason, the teams needed two additional innings to settle things.
A Newbury fielding error gave Mitchell a chance in the eighth. The Mariners had the winning run on third with two outs, but Kenyon got a foul out to end the threat.
A pair of dropped fly balls cost Mitchell a run in the ninth. Fiederlein recorded the first two outs of the frame before Ricciotti reached on the first error and ended up on third. Humphries followed with a lazy fly ball that should have ended the inning, but the second miscue allowed Ricciotti to score with the go-ahead run.
Infield singles by Berkman and Ruiz gave the Mariners a chance in the bottom of the ninth, but Kenyon got two fly balls and a line out to nail down the win. Kenyon scattered nine hits over 9.0 innings and didn't allow an earned run while striking out six.
Fiederlein yielded four runs (three earned) on four hits and fanned 10 in the loss. She also had three this at the plate to lead all players.
Game 2 – Elms 2, Becker 0
Bethany Grimes turned in a stellar pitching performance in the second game to lead Elms past Becker. She surrendered only two hits and struck out nine batters over 7.0 innings while issuing only two walks.
Elms got off to a good start offensively as Kierstan Skinner led off the first inning with a bullet over the left-center fence for a quick 1-0 lead. The home run was her third of the season.
Rachel Beery doubled in the third as the Blazers threatened again. She moved to third on a sacrifice bunt but got no further as Becker starter Kelsey Norberg struck out the next batter to get out of the jam.
Elms tacked on another run in the fifth to go up 2-0. Skinner got things started with a stand-up double to left-center and scored on a two-out single to left by Grimes.
Grimes took a no hitter into the sixth inning but lost it when pinch hitter Magdalena Aguirre singled back up the middle. The Hawks then put runners at the corners with two outs following an infield single by Jessica Wheelahan, but Grimes fielded a comebacker and threw to first to end the threat.
Skinner and Kacey Gifford finished with two hits apiece to pace the Elms offense.
Norberg allowed two runs on seven hits in 6.0 innings and struck out six.
Game 3 – Becker 3, Mitchell 2 (11 innings)
With both teams fighting to stay alive and reach the second day of the Championship, it was Becker that outlasted Mitchell in an 11-inning showdown. Jessica Brochu knocked in the winning run in the 11th to end the longest game in NECC postseason history.
Neither team took advantage of runners in scoring position in the first inning. DelConte led off with a double for the Mariners but later got doubled up while trying to take third base on a ground out. In the home half of the frame, a two-out double by Becker's Megan Bolduc went to waste as Fiederlein got a ground out to third to keep the game scoreless.
The Hawks got on the scoreboard in the third on the strength of back-to-back two-out hits from Wheelahan and Bolduc. Wheelahan got things started with a single through the right side of the infield and scored from first base on Bolduc's second double of the contest.
Becker had a scoring chance in the fifth after Jaclyn Orangio reached on a bunt single and promptly stole second. Fiederlein once again worked her way out of trouble, getting a foul out and strikeout to keep the deficit at one.
The Hawks rallied with one out in the sixth to add to the lead. Rebecca Carkhuff and Aguirre each singled before a Mitchell fielding error allowed a run to come home. Becker then loaded the bases before Fiederlein limited the damage by getting a pair of big strikeouts to end the frame.
Down to their final three outs, the Mariners pushed across two runs in the top of the seventh to extend the game. Dylan Riccardi and O'Neil each singled to start the rally and moved into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt. Danielle Autieri plated the first run on a fly ball that dropped in right-center field, and Berkman tied the game with a slap hit over the third baseman that was nearly snagged by a diving Bolduc.
In the bottom of the seventh, the Hawks put the winning run on second base but couldn't come up with the big hit. It was a similar story in the 10th when Becker put two on with no outs but came up empty again. However, Brochu changed the narrative in the 11th when she came to the plate with the bases loaded and hit a ground ball to the shortstop. The speedy Orangio beat the throw to the plate to score the final run as the Hawks walked off with the win.
Norberg (12-11 overall) gave up two runs on seven hits and struck out one in 11.0 innings of work. Fiederlein (15-9 overall) allowed three runs (one earned) on 11 hits and struck out 11 in 10.0 innings. She logged a total of 19.0 innings on the day for the Mariners.
Game 4 – Elms 6, Newbury 4
Grimes carried her team to the title round by driving in three runs and pitching 5.0 innings of relief to earn her second victory of the afternoon.
A two-run double into the right-center gap by Grimes put Elms on top 2-0 before Newbury even came up to bat. The Nighthawks threatened in the bottom of the frame—putting runners on second and third with only one out—but Jessica Colson pitched her way out of trouble with the two-run lead intact.
Newbury produced three runs on three hits in the second inning to steal the lead. The Nighthawks loaded the bases with no outs and plated the first run on a RBI single up the middle by Liggiero, then took the lead on a two-run single to left by Kenyon.
Kenyon nearly pitched her way out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the third, but Elms benefitted from a fielding error to tie the game at 3-3. The Blazers then took advantage of two walks and a throwing error in the fourth to pull back in front 4-3.
Newbury put the tying run in scoring position with only one out in the fifth, but Grimes—who took over pitching duties in the third inning—worked out of trouble and kept her team in front. The Blazers then added insurance in the top of the sixth, pushing across two runs courtesy of consecutive singles by Skinner and Gifford, another Newbury miscue and a sacrifice fly by Grimes.
Newbury brought the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the seventh. The Nighthawks were down to their final out when Ricciotti singled to keep the game going, and Humphries followed with a double on which a fielding error in the outfield allowed a run to score. Grimes didn't let it affect her, however, and struck out the final batter to secure the win.
Kenyon (18-10 overall) gave up six runs—only two of which were earned—and struck out seven in 7.0 innings. Humphries finished with a game-high three hits while Liggiero and Kenyon each added a pair.
