Courtesy Tom Wasiczko‘Everyone has to be good and if everyone is good, we’re great,’ UMass coach Sortino said before getting on the bus headed to
When the No. 20 Minutewomen (36-8, 17-2 A-10) took the field Thursday opposite Fordham, they did exactly that. No one player was a star, but the team was great ‘- whether at the plate, on the mound or in the field ‘- as they defeated the Rams, 5-1, in their opening game of the A-10 Tournament.
Starting pitcher Brandice Balschmiter set the pace for the game as she allowed just one hit ‘- a weak ground ball that bounced off her thigh and just enough out of reach to allow Fordham’s Beckah Wiggins to reach on an infield single ‘- through the first five innings. The Rams (36-21, 13-8 A-10) scored one run in the top of the sixth, the only inning Balschmiter had any trouble.
‘It was just a series of unfortunate happenings,’ Sortino said after the game.
The senior began the sixth by inducing a ground ball back to herself from Fordham’s Megan Waldron. The Rams’ catcher, Meghan Shager, then singled a 2-2 pitch down the left-field line for Fordham’s first base runner since the second inning.
Shager was forced out at second base in the next at-bat as the leadoff hitter, Melissa Andrews, grounded into a fielder’s choice. Andrews stole second before Balschmiter walked the next batter, leaving the Minutewomen with runners on first and second and two outs.
Two pitches later, Mary Beth Puccio blooped the ball over shortstop Whitney Williams, plating Andrews for the Rams’ lone run of the game. Puccio advanced to second, placing runners at second and third on a fielding error by left fielder Samantha Salato. Balschmiter induced another ground ball to first basemen Sarah Reeves to end the threat.
Balschmiter pitched seven innings giving up just one run on four hits and one walk while striking out five.
The single run was not enough, as UMass had already built up a 4-0 lead. The Minutewomen first got on the board in the second inning when Reeves led off the frame with a solo home run off Fordham’s Chelsea Plimpton to left-center field. Salato followed up Reeves with a towering pop-up that carried over the wall again in left-center field, giving UMass back-to-back home runs and a 2-0 lead. The home run was Salato’s 16th of the season, breaking the UMass single-season record of 15 set by Stacy Cullington in 2007.
‘It’s a great honor to have,’ Salato said. ‘There are so many great players to come through this program and it’s nice to be up there with them.’
‘It will be nice to see her name in the record book for at least one year,’ Sortino said.
UMass picked up another run in the third on another leadoff home run by the A-10 Player of the Year, Carly Normandin, her 10th home run of the season…
In the fourth, the Minutewomen traded in the long ball and put together a succession of hits to plate their fourth run of the game. Davina Hernandez led off the inning by reaching first base on an error by Plimpton and reached second when Normandin drew a walk. Whitney Williams tried to move the runners over but instead blooped a bunt to third base. Hernandez was forced out at third, but Williams beat out the throw to first, leaving runners at first and second.
Two batters later, Reeves drove in Normandin from second ‘- Reeves’ second run batted in of the game ‘- on a single up the middle.
Plimpton finished the game giving up five runs, three earned on six hits and two walks while striking out four.
The game was held up for over four hours in the sixth inning as rain and lightning swept over Bahoshy Field and the Fordham campus. When play resumed, UMass tacked on an insurance run, its fifth of the game, on a Hernandez double, and Balschmiter came back out to pitch the seventh inning. The ace for the Minutewomen gave up one hit, which amounted to nothing for the Rams, to close out the victory for UMass.
The win advances the Minutewomen in the double elimination tournament to face
Jeffrey R. Larnard can be reached at [email protected].
