Fitchburg State Falls Twice To WPI, 1-0/6-4

Cyrus finishes 4-for-7 in pair of non-conference setbacks to WPI

FITCHBURG, Mass. (April, 17, 2013) – The Fitchburg State Softball team was in action this afternoon at Coolidge Park, dropping a pair of games to WPI in a non-conference doubleheader. The Falcons fell, 1-0 in the opening contest before dropping the nightcap, 6-4.

WPI pitchers Claire Doolin (Newton, Mass.) and Christa Coscia (Lakeville, Mass.) combined to allow just two earned runs and Lauren DiFelice (Acushnet, MA) tallied three RBI to lead the Engineers to the non-conference sweep.        

WPI, who was playing as the home team at Fitchburg State, is now 9-21 on the season while Fitchburg State dips to 12-16.

The Engineers scored the only run of the opener when Nicole McDonough (Abington, Mass.) doubled to left center to open the bottom of the sixth inning and scored two batters later on a Jacquelyne DiTroia (Andover, Mass.) double to the right center gap.

Doolin retired the side in the seventh, including the last two by strikeout, to secure her second shutout of the year.  The freshman masterfully worked out of jams in the fifth and sixth innings that saw Falcons get runners to third base with one out.  In the fifth, WPI was able to extinguish the threat when first baseman Ali LaRue (South Glenn Falls, N.Y.) fielded a squeeze bunt and tagged out the runner headed home and then fielded a pop up while in the sixth Doolin induced a grounder and an another infield popup.  The right hander (4-11) allowed three hits, walked one and recording six punch-outs.

Brittany Whiting (Sharon, Mass.) nearly matched zeros in the circle for Fitchburg State.  The sophomore hurler (5-8) yielded just three hits while walking one and striking out seven. Junior Allison Page (Wakefield, Mass.) went 2-for-3 to lead the Falcons while freshman Tori Cyrus (Everett, Mass.) was also solid, belting a triple.

All three of WPI's hits in game one were doubles with DiFelice joining McDonough and DiTroia with two baggers.

In the nightcap the Crimson and Gray dented the scoring column in the bottom of the third with a pair of unearned runs.  After the first two runners reached on errors and were advanced on a sacrifice bunt by Julianna Fekete (Belgrade, Maine), DiTroia delivered with an RBI ground out and DiFelice followed with a run-producing single to shortstop.

Fitchburg State quickly countered with a run in the top of the fourth after Cyrus led off with a triple down the right field line and sophomore Amanda Whitelaw (Flemington, N.J.) smacked a run-scoring double to left center. Coscia left Whitelaw stranded at third when she forced a pair of groundouts.

The Engineers broke the game open with a four-run fourth that featured a successful RBI squeeze bunt off the bat of Andrea Boxell (Marlboro, Mass.) and a two-run single by DiFelice.

The Falcons got back to within 6-3 in the top of the sixth when Cyrus, who had singled and Whitelaw, who walked, came around to score on a dropped fly ball in the outfield.  Fitchburg State mounted one last rally in the seventh when Cyrus drove in junior Marissa Binnall (Fitchburg, Mass.) with a double high off the left field fence but following another single, WPI got the final out to secure the sweep

Cosica ups her record to 5-10 with a complete game effort.  The senior allowed two earned runs on six hits (2k's), while junior Kerry Alcott (Groton, Mass.) suffered the setback for the Falcons, giving up just one earned run on seven hits and a pair of strikeouts in six innings of work.

DeFelice paced the Engineers game two offense, going 2-for-4 with the three RBI, while Cyrus capped her big day for Fitchburg State, finishing just a homerun short of the cycle in the night cap.

Fitchburg State (12-16, 4-4 MASCAC) returns to action tomorrow as it visits the Colonels of Curry College for a doubleheader starting at 3 p.m. WPI 9-21, 3-9  NEWMAC) will host Smith College on Friday for a twin billing starting at 3 p.m. (Games will be played at Assumption College)