MANSFIELD, Conn. – The Eastern Connecticut State University softball team scored twice in the seventh inning but left the bases loaded when Babson College freshman pitcher Ali Reilly (New Canaan) ended the game with a swinging strikeout as the Beavers completed a sweep of the Warriors with a 5-4 victory in the second game of non-conference doubleheader Friday night at the Eastern Softball Stadium.
In the first game, Babson (22-15) sent 15 batters to the plate in the second inning and scored 12 runs on nine hits and three Eastern (23-6-1) errors in a 20-1, five-inning rout that was the Beavers' first win over the Warriors after four losses in the series.
In the second game, Reilly was working on a five-hitter through six innings before the Warriors scored twice on five hits – four coming in succession with two out. Sophomore Tyler Keegan's (Middletown) first-pitch single and senior Shannon Martin's (Wethersfield) infield single on a 3-0 pitch pushed the two runs of the inning across with two out before Reilly ended the game on a three-pitch swinging strikeout.
Unbeaten in its previous nine games (8-0-1), Eastern commited eight errors and Babson raked three Eastern pitchers for 16 hits, six of them for extra bases, in the first game. Senior Lindsey Schmid and junior leadoff hitter Madison Dinaso combined to drive in nine runs. Schmid was 3-for-4 with five RBI and three runs scored, including a double and home run, while Dinaso was 3-for-4 with four RBI and two runs scored. Dinaso doubled in three runs in the third inning and freshman Samantha Smith belted a three-run triple and continued home on a throwing error in the second.
In the doubleheader, Schmid drove in six runs with five hits, including a double, triple and home run, and Smith and Dinaso both drove in four runs. Junior Maya Lacy (East Mill Creek, UT) also had five hits and scored five runs and Dinaso scored four times.
Senior Meghan Hayes pitched a complete-game two-hitter with three strikeout in the opener and Reilly went the distance in the nightcap, striking out five.
Eastern never led in the second game and Babson scored two key (unearned) runs in the sixth inning to move out to a 4-1 lead. Batting third in the order, sophomore Leslie Moore drove in both runs in the sixth on a two-out bloop single in an inning when an infield error opened the frame.
With two out in the seventh and a runner aboard, senior Sam Rossetti (Shelton), freshman Haeli Campbell (Goffstown, NH), Keegan and Martin all singled to keep the inning going before Reilly ended it with the three-pitch strikeout. The hit was the 99th in Martin's four-year career.
Campbell, Rossetti, Hancock and junior Taylor Smyth (Meriden) all had two hits in the doubleheader for Eastern, with Rossetti scoring twice and slamming her second home run – a solo shot leading off the sixth inning of the nightcap. Smyth doubled twice in the second game and Hancock recorded her fifth triple of the year leading off the third inning of the second game and later scored to tie the game, 1-1. Hancock compiled 14 assists in two games to give her 100 – her third straight of triple digits.
Eastern visits Plymouth State University in a Little East Conference doubleheader Saturday at 1 p.m., needing one win to earn the No. 1 seed and host next week's six-team, double-elimination tournament.
