Fitchburg State Slips Past Salem State, 3-2

Gemma drives in three; Cyrus hits 3-for-3 in Falcons opening round playoff victory

FITCHBURG, Mass. (May 2, 2013) – The fourth seeded Fitchburg State softball team defeated the fifth seeded Vikings of Salem State University, 3-2 in the opening round of the 2013 Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) Softball Tournament at Coolidge Park this afternoon.

With the victory, Fitchburg State (19-20, 8-6 MASCAC) advances to the double elimination round of the tournament and will take on top seeded Bridgewater State on Friday at 4 p.m. Salem State concludes its 2013  season with an overall record of 19-16 and a 7-7 clip within the conference.

Freshman shortstop Marissa Gemma (Leominster, Mass./Leominster) ignited the Falcons offensive surge, with a single and three RBI, while classmate Tori Cyrus (Everett, Mass./Everett) continued her solid hitting, going a perfect 3-for-3 at the dish with a pair of runs scored.

Salem State was led by junior Michelle Flower (Reading, Mass./Reading) (1-for-2) with a single and one run scored, while seniors Alyssa Bryan (Stoneham, Mass./Stoneham) and Christina Cipriani (Peabody, Mass./Bishop Fenwick) added one hit apiece.     

The Falcons jumped out to a quick lead in the bottom of the opening frame as Fitchburg State proceeded to loaded the bases with two outs in the inning on a single by Cyrus and back-to-back walks from Amanda Whitelaw (Flemington, N.J./Hunterdon Central) and Colleen Flaherty (Stoughton, Mass./Stoughton) before Gemma delivered with a clutch two-run single down the right field line for the 2-0 advantage.

The visitors cut the lead in half (2-1) in the top of the third inning when Flower singled to centerfield, moved to second on wild pitch, stole third and crossed the plate on a sacrifice fly to left off the bat of senior Lauren Garchinsky (Saugus, Mass./Saugus).

Fitchburg State added an insurance run in the bottom of the fifth inning as Cyrus connected for her third hit of the game to open the stanza, advanced to second on groundout and moved to third on fielding error before scoring on a RBI ground out from Gemma to make the score 3-2 after five innings of play.

The Vikings would respond in the final stanza, cutting the lead to just one when Cipriani led off the inning with base knock back up the middle before pinch runner Shelia O'Sullivan (Westwood, Mass./Westwood) came around to score on a sacrifice fly from Garchinsky but Falcon hurler Kerry Alcott (Groton, Mass./Groton- Dunstable) induced a game ending pop up, resulting in the 3-2 final.

In the circle, Alcott earned the victory, allowing just two earned runs on three hits and six punch outs in the complete game effort for Fitchburg State, while Bryan suffered the setback, giving up three runs (two earned) on six hits (4 K's) in six innings of work for the Vikings.