After suffering a tough loss to Connecticut on Tuesday, the Massachusetts softball team rebounded nicely at home, defeating Boston College, 4-2, yesterday afternoon.
After getting in an early first inning jam, Sara Plourde stranded runners on second and third, ending the top half of the frame scoreless. The Minutewomen (17-11, 4-0 A-10) cashed in on its first opportunity when Kyllie Magill delivered a two-out, RBI single, bringing in Cyndil Matthew to give UMass a 1-0 lead after the first inning.
Third baseman Teea Rogers led the bottom of the second inning off with a solo home run that just crept over the left field wall to extend the Minutewomen’s lead to 2-0.
“It was the first pitch and I was ready for it and I swung hard and it went over,” said Rogers. “It always feels good to hit a home run.”
UMass looked to extend its lead in the inning, but Jordan Storro was thrown out at home.
Plourde settled in nicely after her difficulties in the first, retiring the next six batters she faced, five coming via strikeouts.
The Minutewomen chased Eagles (19-13, 1-5 Atlantic Coast Conference) starting pitcher Amanda Horowitz with two outs in the third after loading the bases, but the Minutewomen weren’t able to cash in for any runs. Horowitz exited the game with four strikeouts, four hits allowed and four walks.
UMass added onto its lead in the bottom half of the fourth when Quianna Diaz-Patterson scored on a throwing error by the BC catcher to extend the lead to 3-0. The scoring continued for UMass in the inning with a sacrifice fly by Magill, bringing in Katie Bettencourt from third.
The Eagles put together a rally in the top half of the fifth when Andrea Filler delivered a two-out, two RBI double to cut the deficit in half, 4-2. Plourde came out for the sixth inning struggling to find the strike zone, but with two on and nobody out, she retired the next three batters to end the threat.
“The pitches where she was missing, she’s trying to make other pitches,” said UMass coach Elaine Sortino. “While it looks like she’s walking people, a month from now we’ll have a good thing going.”
The Eagles’ attempt to put together one last rally in the seventh inning was halted by Plourde as she struck out the final batter with runners on first and second to record her 13th strikeout of the game. For the game, she surrendered five hits, four walks and one hit-batter. The win improves her record to 16-9 on the season.
“We’re going to find the times when we struggle a little bit and then you come back and you figure it out,” said Plourde.
On the offensive side, Matthew and Rogers each led the Minutewomen with two hits apiece, while Magill and Diaz-Patterson each chipped in with one. Magill also accounted for driving in two of the four runs for UMass.
The win improved the Minutewomen’s home record to 4-0 on the season, while also giving the team its sixth win in its last seven games.
Today’s game against Hartford has been cancelled. The Minutewomen will be back in action this weekend with two road contests against Atlantic 10 rival St. Bonaventure. Both games are scheduled for Easter Sunday, with first pitch in Game 1 slated for noon.
Patrick Strohecker can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter at MDC_Strohecker.
