Coming off a 1-4 record in the Bevo Classic, the Massachusetts softball team kicked off its third tournament of the season at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington with scoring struggles, getting shut out in both games against Rider and UNCW respectively.
After her fifth consecutive loss on the mound, junior pitcher Natalee Horton opened the tournament for the Minutewomen (4-8) with a perfect three-up, three-down frame. Shortly after, in the second, Horton gave up four runs, the first coming with no outs when senior Olivia Burroughs drove in junior Maddie Luedtke.
Burroughs is coming off the lowest batting average of her career last season at .170. The senior showed major improvement off that season on Friday, though, going 2-of-3 with two RBIs. In four seasons with the Broncs (1-0), she has recorded 53 RBIs and 38 extra base hits.
Anna-Marie Groskritz pitched a full seven innings for Rider, striking out 10 and giving up three hits. Groskritz is a graduate student coming off an 8-7 season with a 3.10 ERA, 75 strikeouts and six complete games.
UMass put three hits on the board in this matchup with one of them coming from infielder Odyssey Torres. Torres made 41 starts as a freshman for the team last season with a .315 on base percentage and seven RBIs. This season, her hitting totals have increased to a .378 on base percentage and six RBIs over an 11-game period.
The Minutewomen lost the first of two matchups on the day to the Broncs, 7-0. Luedtke led her team with a 3-of-3 performance.
The second game for UMass also had a rocky start. In the bottom of the second inning, Eastern Kentucky transfer Maggie Pertee scored the first run of the game for the Seahawks (8-2) off an error in right field from junior Riain Keefe. Keefe recorded her second error of the season with the blunder.
This run was followed by two consecutive runs for UNCW off singles from sophomore infielders Madison Biddle and Allison Corbin. The Seahawks added two more throughout the rest of the outing, giving the team a 5-0 victory against the Minutewomen.
Pertee entered the tournament with a .320 batting average and eight stolen bases over a nine-game period. Last season, she had a seven-game hitting streak that included two home runs.
Keefe arrived at Amherst as a transfer last season after one year at Georgia Tech. With a .500 on base percentage and four RBIs already this season, she has been an offensive bright spot for a team that has struggled to score runs.
Since the start of the season, UMass has been shut out five times already with the other three happening in the Bevo Classic against Maryland, Texas Tech and Texas. This comes after a season where the team was shut out 10 times.
In these two matchups, leadoff hitters for the Minutewomen went 4-of-14. The other hitters combined for just two hits over both games, while there were two walks against Rider and nine baserunners in total against UNCW. Through rough beginnings on offense, leadoff hitting has been a strength for UMass even though support down the lineup has been missing.
The Minutewomen’s weekend matchups continue at the UNCW Tournament with rematches against the Broncs at 12:30 p.m. and the Seahawks at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday.
Jonathan Murgida can be reached at [email protected] and followed on X @jonathanmurgida.
