Late Rally Pushes Wildcats to Sweep against AMCAT Softball

PROVIDENCE, R.I.—The Anna Maria College softball team dropped a pair of games to the Wildcats of Johnson & Wales University on Saturday afternoon in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) action. The Wildcats took a 3-1 win in game one and a comeback 9-6 win in game two.

Johnson & Wales 3, Anna Maria 1

In game one, the Wildcats and AMCATS battled through three scoreless innings before Johnson & Wales took a brief 1-0 lead on a solo homerun by Emily Schape in the bottom of the fourth inning.

A half inning later, the AMCATS scored as Elizabeth Haggerty (Charlton, Mass.) hit a sacrifice-fly to score Amanda Lemire (Methuen, Mass.) from third base, who had reached doubled to left-center to start the inning and advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by Ashley George (Leicester, Mass.).

Haggerty was the lone AMCAT to have multiple hits in game one, as she finished 2-for-2 at the plate.

The AMCATS kept the Wildcats off the board in the bottom of the fifth, but Johnson & Wales posted a three-hit, two-run sixth inning to claim the win. With one out, Kaycee Babineau doubled down the right field line. She scored on the next play, as Emily Schaper singled and advanced to second on the throw to home.

JWU's next batter, Alex Fantasia, singled up the middle and Schaper advanced to third. A pitch later, Fantasia took off for second and AMCAT catcher Marissa Pingeton (Worcester, Mass.) threw to shortstop Kaitlyn Moran (Leicester, Mass.) in front of second. Moran fired back to Pingeton in an attempt to get Schaper, who was stealing home, but the throw was a second too late and the Wildcats scored their third run of the game.

Senior pitcher Nichole Lowe (Saugus, Mass.) had a solid game in the circle, scattering 10 hits, three earned runs and no walks while striking out four JWU batters.

JWU pitcher Jennifer Corona gave up six hits, one earned run and no walks with six strikeouts in the compete-game win.

The Wildcats' lead-off batter, Kristen Solari, posted a game-high three hits in the win while Schaper finished 2-for-2 with two RBI.

Johnson & Wales 9, Anna Maria 6

In game two, the AMCATS took an early 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning as Haggerty opened in the game with a walk and Moran singled before Cristina Turley (Waterford, Conn.) poked a three-run homerun to left center field.

The Wildcats rallied for two runs in the bottom of the first inning and did all of their damage with two outs. Kristen Solari singled and Emily Gorecki reached on an error in centerfield, which allowed Sola to come around to score. A double by Diana Amendo scored Gorecki.

Johnson & Wales tied the game at 3-3 in the bottom of the third as Solaris doubled and scored on a single by Gorecki.

The AMCATS took the lead back in the top of the fifth. Jacqueline Lapierre (Worcester, Mass.) reached on an error by the pitcher and advanced all the way to third to lead things off, followed by a walk by Moran and a fielder's choice play for Bond that loaded the bases.

Turley then reached on an error by the pitcher to move everyone up a base and score Lapierre. The next play saw Moran get thrown out at home while Amy Clement (Townsend, Mass.) reached first, before Lemire singled through the right side to score Bond.

AMCAT pitcher Angela Vousboukis (Swampscott, Mass.) retired all three batters she faced in the bottom of the fifth inning to bring the AMCATS back to the plate in the top of the sixth.

With one out, Haggerty singled through the right side and advanced to second on a single to third base by Lapierre. Moran then rocked a big double to right field to score Haggerty, giving the AMCATS a 6-3 lead and forcing JWU to make their second pitching change of the game.

The Wildcats took control from there, as they posted a six-run inning in the bottom of the sixth. The AMCATS were unable to answer in the top of the seventh and JWU escaped with the 9-6 win.

Vousboukis scattered 12 hits and two earned runs on the day in the circle while striking out one.

Alex Fantasia earned the win in relief for JWU, throwing 1.1 innings and giving up no hits, no run and one walk.

The AMCATS will be back in action tomorrow as they travel to Lasell for a 12:00 p.m. GNAC doubleheader.