NORTH MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. – The Wentworth Institute of Technology softball team fell twice on its final day of the Fastpitch Dreams Spring Classic in North Myrtle Beach, S.C. The Leopards fell to the Lions of Penn. St.-Abington in a 10-inning thriller 5-4, before dropping a 10-0 decision to the Regis Pride.
GAME ONE – Penn St.-Abington 5 Wentworth 4 (10 Innings)
Wentworth opened the day with hot hitting off the bats, swinging into 14 hits during the extra-inning effort. Freshman Brionna Myers (Seabrook, N.H.) started things off with a single in the top of the first, scoring junior Caroline Shea (Abington, Mass.) on the play, who reached first base with a hit of her own. The Leopards tacked on another one in the top of the third, as Shea and senior Rachel Willcutt (Tilton, N.H.) led off with back-to-back singles before sophomore Deanna DiPilato (Worcester, Mass.) drove Shea home for the 2-0 lead.
The Lions answered in the fourth with two runs, capitalizing on a pair of errors from Wentworth to deadlock the score 2-2. Willcutt again did her job at the plate with her third hit of the game in the sixth inning, and reached scoring position on a groundout from Myers and an infield error from Penn. With runners on first and third, freshman Kayla DeMedeiros (South Dartmouth, Mass.) cracked a two-out single, and scored Willcutt on the play to put Wentworth back up, 4-2.
With the win just three outs away, the Leopards took the field in the bottom of the seventh, but the Lions swung into consecutive lead-off singles for runners at first and second. A sac fly shifted the lead runner to third, who scored on the following sac to right field. Down one run with one down, the Lions cracked a single and scored the lead runner, forcing the contest into extra innings with the 4-4 score.
Both teams went down in order in the first extra inning, as Shea took second base on the international tie breaker. Shea advanced to third on a groundout from Willcutt, but the Lions retired the next two batters, and switched onto offense.
In the bottom of the ninth, the Leopards' sharp defense retired the Lions before they reached home, including a final double play to end the inning. The Lions responded with quick defense of their own, before they took the plate and swung into a lead-off double, scoring the winning run from second base.
Myers suffered the loss despite three strikeouts over 8.2 innings pitched.
GAME TWO – Regis 10 Wentworth 0 (Five Innings)
The Pride took Wentworth by storm in the second game, adding nine runs across the first three innings. Regis cracked 14 hits and plated 10 runs without yielding a single error, while Wentworth swung into just three hits overall.
DeMedeiros, Shea, and senior Vanessa Weymouth (Fremont, N.H.) all swung into a hit apiece for Wentworth, while Shea hit into the Leopards' lone multi-base hit with a double in the fifth inning.
Myers and DeMedeiros split time on the hill, with Myers suffering the loss with two earned runs. DeMedeiros pitched four innings of relief, and fanned six batters in the effort.
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