MANSFIELD, Conn. - The Castleton University softball team upended second-seeded Southern Maine before suffering a season-ending loss to No. 3 seed UMass Dartmouth in Little East Conference Tournament action Friday afternoon at Clyde Washburne Field.
Castleton 2, Southern Maine 1
Kylie Wright's complete effort powered Castleton to victory in the second game of an action-packed day. She allowed just seven hits to the tough Huskies lineup and dealt back-to-back scoreless innings to end the game and keep the Spartans alive in the hunt for a conference championship.
Castleton (19-16, 8-8 LEC) struck first in the home half of the second as
Kate LaPan smacked a clutch two-out double to score
Makenna Thorne, who led the inning with a single. With runs at a premium, Castleton tallied another in the fourth thanks to
Allison Almond's two-out single. The Spartans nearly plated a third, but a quick Southern Maine relay limited the damage.
Southern Maine (24-16, 13-3 LEC) notched its lone run in the fifth with Morgan Moult's single and threatened with runners on first and second, but Wright escaped the inning and preserved the lead. Back-to-back singles in the sixth applied further pressure to Wright and the Spartan defense, but the Huskies would leave both runners stranded. Wright again forced Southern Maine to leave two on base in the final inning.
Castleton put up nine hits, including two from both Thorne and LaPan, against the Huskies' formidable pitching staff. Both sides left nine on base as pitchers consistently picked up key outs when needed.
Southern Maine was eliminated from the tournament following the loss, while Castleton advanced to face UMass Dartmouth for a spot in Saturday's championship round.
UMass Dartmouth 4, Castleton 0
UMassD (33-9-1, 13-3 LEC) scored in the first and tacked on three more in the third en route to a shutout victory and a spot in Saturday's championship-deciding showdown. Castleton posted just four hits against Corsair pitcher Kaitlyn Shirshac, who earned the complete-game shutout.
The Spartans looked to have a chance to rally in the fourth when
Machaila Arjavich doubled and Thorne followed with a single, but
Jess Heinrichs' line drive at the shortstop gave UMassD a double play opportunity to end the inning.
Castleton looked to
Olivia Joy,
Katie Gallagher,
Olivia Bowen, and finally Wright to limit the Corsair offense. Wright held UMassD scoreless over the final three frames, racking up 10 innings on the day with just one run allowed. UMassD's Leah Major went 2-for-4, while Victoria Rosetti led the team with two RBIs.
The loss ended the Spartans' season and sent the Corsairs to the championship round. They'll need to defeat top-seeded Eastern Connecticut in back-to-back games to claim the LEC Championship.
