BOSTON, Mass. – Ava Ladd got the game-winning hit in both games, as well as knocking in their 100th career run as the MIT softball team earned a sweep of Coast Guard on Saturday afternoon to conclude the NEWMAC regular season.
With the two wins, the Engineers hit 30 wins for the fourth time in the last five seasons and secured the number two seed in the NEWMAC Tournament.
THE BASICS:
- Scores:
- Game 1: MIT 10, Coast Guard 9
- Game 2: MIT 1, Coast Guard 0
- Records: MIT (31-7 Overall, 16- 4 NEWMAC); Coast Guard (16-16 Overall, 10-10 NEWMAC)
HOW IT HAPPENED GAME ONE:
- Ladd, Lauren Sundquist, and Julia Mattiace knocked in first inning runs to give the Engineers an early lead.
- Coast Guard quickly answered, taking a 5-3 lead in the second. Madeline Kibler got the Bears on the board, and an Engineer error helped the visitors score their second run of the day, and Hayden Reilly knocked in the tying run with an infield single. Dana Walker then singled home the next two runs, but Ella Stolarzyk was thrown out at home to end the inning.
- In the bottom of the inning, MIT took the lead back, using RBI hits from Arianna Kumar, Olivia Scarpaci and Mattiace to go up one.
- Walker regained the lead for Coast Guard with a two-RBI double in the fourth, but she was caught trying to take third and tagged out by Ladd after the throw home.
- Layla Thiessen beat out an infield single to score Delaney Benevides to tie the game in the fifth. Ladd gave MIT the lead with a double and scored the ninth run of the day on a single from Kumar.
- Hayden Reilly hit a solo homer to left to make it a one-run game in the sixth, and a ground-rule double by Zoey Lynn tied the game in the seventh.
- Benevides hit a one-out single, stole second and advanced to third on a Thiessen groundout. Ladd then laced a ball to right to plate Benevides with the winning run.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
- Sharona Huang got the win to improve to 12-3. Emily Watson pitched 4.1 innings as the Engineer pitching staff allowed just three walks.
- MIT had six players with at least two hits, with Thiessen and Ladd leading the way with three each.
- Reilly and Walker had three hits each for the Bears.
HOW IT HAPPENED GAME TWO:
- Thiessen hit a one-out single in the third and promptly stole second. She then came around to score on a double to right center by Ladd.
- Huang held the Bears in check, allowing just two base runners through four innings. In the fifth, Coast Guard got a leadoff double from Mack Murnane and Bridget Bartz laced a ball off the glove of Ladd, but Thiessen got to the ball quickly and the Engineers held Murnane at third and got Bartz at second. Huang then got back-to-back groundouts to end the inning.
- The Bears got their leadoff batter on in the seventh, but Murnane grounded into a 6-4-3 doubleplay and Bartz grounded out to end the game.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
- This was the first 1-0 win for MIT this season as Huang earned her second win of the day to move to 13-3 with her second shutout and sixth complete game of the year. She allowed just five hits with no walks and one strikeout.
- Walker fell to 12-9 as she threw six innings allowing just the one run on four hits with one walk and seven strikeouts.
UP NEXT:
- The Engineers will head into the NEWMAC Tournament as the two seed and will play at Springfield on Wednesday, May 6. MIT will play the winner of the Springfield vs. Wheaton/Coast Guard at 4:30 PM.
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