Timely hitting and a strong outing from pitcher Caroline Raymond helped propel the Massachusetts softball team to a 12-4 mercy-rule victory over St. Bonaventure in the second game of a doubleheader on Saturday at Sortino Field.
The Minutewomen (6-16, 3-1 Atlantic 10) held the Bonnies (5-23, 2-6 A-10) scoreless until the fourth inning and Raymond held them hitless through three innings on her way to her third victory of the season, which was UMass’ fourth straight.
After trailing 5-1 heading into the sixth inning, SBU first baseman Christine Watson hit a three-run homer to bring her team back to within a run. But UMass answered in the bottom half of the inning, scoring seven runs on six hits, including Christine Della Vecchia’s sacrifice groundout that scored Taylor Carbone and ended the game.
Offense was a big factor in the Minutewomen’s success, as every batter came up with a hit in the contest, including Lindsey Webster and Teea Rogers, who each hit home runs. Carbone went 3-for-4 and drove in two, while Katie Bettencourt went 2-for-4, including an RBI double as part of a three-run first inning.
In the circle, Raymond was strong, not only throwing a no-hitter well into the fourth inning, but finishing with six strikeouts and allowing only four hits and two walks.
The junior’s only complication of the day seemed to be her curveball, which hung a bit outside of the plate and found Watson’s bat in the sixth for the home run that made it a one-run game. But Raymond battled back right after, striking out Hali Enderby to end the threat and the inning.
“I tried to work ahead today,” Raymond said. “Throw hard, hit my spots and let the defense behind me do the work.”
“Caroline gave us a much better performance,” UMass coach Elaine Sortino said.
“I thought her pitching was a couple of steps up from what it was a couple of weeks ago.”
Despite difficulties, UMass pushes through to win first game
In Game 1 on Saturday, the Minutewomen proved their stamina, battling in each inning of a 6-4 victory over the Bonnies.
Redshirt freshman pitcher Emma Mendoker won her second consecutive game despite giving up seven hits and seven walks in six innings. And according to Sortino, she was also pitching with a sore bicep, which she said got progressively worse as the game went on.
Bridget Lemire earned the save with a scoreless seventh inning to preserve the victory.
The Minutewomen got their bats going early in the first, as shortstop Quianna Diaz-Patterson sent a triple to right-center field, driving in Cyndil Matthew, who reached base on a walk. Bettencourt then hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Diaz-Patterson to give UMass an early 2-0 lead.
After the Bonnies got a run back in the top of the second, UMass catcher Samantha Gray increased the lead to 3-1 with her first hit of the season – a solo home run.
UMass led SBU 3-1 well into the third, but Bonnies centerfielder Ashley Snider connected on a game-tying two-run homer. SBU then got its first lead of the afternoon after a fielding error from Rogers allowed Emily McDonough to score in the fifth.
But that would be all from the Bonnies, who gave up a two-run home run to Bettencourt in the bottom of the fifth that gave UMass back the lead. Matthew then gave the Minutewomen some insurance with an RBI single in the sixth.
Despite the win, Sortino said the defense needs to improve.
“The thing I am not happy about is our defense,” Sortino said. “Our defense just needs to be a UMass defense and it just doesn’t look like UMass blue-collar defense right now.”
The Minutewomen will look to improve their defense and stay on their winning momentum as they head to Connecticut on Tuesday.
Kaitlin Boyer can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @Kaitlin_Boyer.
