University of Massachusets Athletics
University of Massachusetts
Saint Francis (PA)
Softball Drops Two Games, Heartbreaker in Extras
February 19, 2016 | Softball
GREENVILLE, N.C. - University of Massachusetts softball fell to Saint Francis and East Carolina on day one of the ECU Pirate Clash, in Greenville, N.C., on Friday.
Game One
Despite a seventh-inning home run from Jena Cozza, UMass dropped the first contest of the day to Saint Francis, 13-6, at the ECU Softball Complex. With the home run, Cozza finished 1-for-4 in the game. Tara Klee went 2-for-4 for the Minutewomen and scored two runs during the contest.
The Red Flash offense started hot in the top half of the first inning. After the first two runners reached base, Jordan Seneca homered to give the Saint Francis an early 3-0 lead. SFU would add two more runs in the inning and take a 5-0 lead after the frame.
Massachusetts would get a run back in the second inning. Klee scored on a single from Erin Stacevicz, the first hit and RBI of her career. Klee would score again in the fourth inning on an Olivia Godin sacrifice fly.
The Minutewomen added two more runs to shrink the deficit in the sixth inning. Taylor Carbone led the inning off with an infield hit and would later score when Ashton Wince doubled down the left field line. Wince scored on the next play, a Meg Colleran single through the left side.
Carbone earned the start in the circle for the Minutewomen. She pitched seven innings and struck out four batters in the game.
Game Two
In a wild, back-and-forth 10-inning affair, East Carolina defeated UMass, 6-5. With runners on second and third, ECU’s Karlie Smith doubled down the right field line to score two and give the Pirates the win. Meg Colleran threw a career-high nine innings in the game and allowed just three earned runs. The Minutewomen fell to 0-5 on the season.
ECU got on the board first when they scored two runs in the bottom of the first inning. Casey Alcorn drove in the first run of the game with an RBI single to right field. Following a groundout, Karlie Smith scored the next Pirate run with a sacrifice fly.
UMass would get both runs back in the third inning. Cozza smashed a double that one-hopped the wall in left to start the inning and scored three batters later with a Klee single. Wince would follow with an RBI single to knot the game up at two.
Both teams would threaten, but neither would score until the eighth inning. With Wince on third, Colleran doubled just over the third baseman’s glove and gave UMass their first lead of the game.
East Carolina answered back in the home half, when Alex Mycek singled home a run on a hit off of Colleran’s glove.
Both teams scored a run each in the ninth inning. UMass scored Cozza with two wild pitches, while the Pirates tied the game on a throwing error to tie the game, 4-4.
