Fitchburg State Drops Twinbill With WPI

Fitchburg State Drops Twinbill With WPI

Falcons fall 6-2 in game one; suffer 9-3 setback in nightcap

WORCESTER, Mass. (March 29, 2011) – The Fitchburg State softball team suffered a tough non-conference doubleheader sweep to WPI this afternoon as the Engineers took the opener 6-2 and posted a 9-3 victory in the nightcap. 

WPI 6, Fitchburg State 2 

In the opener, WPI went ahead 1-0 in the bottom of the second as Lauren DiFelice (Acushnet, Mass.) connected for her first career round-tripper on a blast to center field. An inning later the hosts padded their lead as Maddie Willer (Penfield, N.Y.) singled down the left field line and later scored on a triple by Juliana Fekete (Belgrade, Maine).

Fitchburg State threatened in the fourth as senior Nicole Monroe (Pepperell, Mass./North Middlesex) singled up the middle and junior Meghan Jenkins (Dedham, Mass./Dedham) reached on an Engineer miscue, but both would be stranded as WPI ended the inning with a strikeout.

In the fifth, the Falcons pressured again with a leadoff double by sophomore Kelly Bourega (Malden, Mass./Malden) , a single by Megan Breault (Palmer, Mass./Palmer) and a base-hit from Alycia McGrail (N. Brookfield, Mass./N. Brookfield), but a runner thrown at home, a foul out and ground ball halted the Falcon rally.

WPI added four runs in the bottom half of the fifth to grab a 6-0 lead, but Fitchburg State broke its scoring silence in the top of the seventh. Freshman Emily Pomer (Groveland, Mass./Whittier Regional) led off the inning with a pinch hit single and pinch runner Lauren Weitz (Billerica, Mass./Billerica) came around to score following a pair of errors and a single by Kristen Love (Londonderry, N.H./Londonderry). Breault, who was on courtesy of a fielder's choice, scored on a single by sophomore Melissa Wadman (Dedham, Mass./Dedham) to cap the Falcon scoring.

Monroe (2-4) struck out a pair, while giving up five runs on seven hits in the loss. Freshman. Jessica Drago (Stoughton, Mass./Stoughton) pitched 1.2 innings of relief for Fitchburg State,  surrendering one run on one hit.

WPI 9, Fitchburg State 3

In game two, WPI opened the contest with an early 3-0 lead, using a pair of homeruns from  Nicole McDonough (Abington, Mass.) and Erin Beaulieu (Bethany, Conn.), but Fitchburg State brought the game to a 3-3 stalemate in the next frame as Pomer connected for a two-run single and sophomore Jill Moses (Dedham, Mass./Dedham) scored on a wild pitch.

WPI took the lead back in the bottom of the fifth as Sarah Johnson (Eastham, Mass.) blasted a three-run homerun for a 6-3 advantage. The Engineers tacked on another three runs in the sixth to extend the lead to 9-3 and clinch their 13th victory of the season.

Junior Allison Cousins (Leominster, Mass./Leominster) shouldered the loss (3-1) for Fitchburg State, giving up the final six runs on seven hits.  Erin Flaherty (Stoughton, Mass.) earned the victory for WPI, giving up three runs (two earned) on three hits in five innings of work.

Fitchburg State (6-7, 0-0 MASCAC) will be back in action Thursday as it hosts Keene State College at 3 p.m. WPI (13-7, 0-0 NEWMAC) will host Amherst College tomorrow at 5 p.m.