DARTMOUTH, Mass. – The Castleton softball team kicked off Little East Conference play with a trip to UMass Dartmouth Sunday afternoon, splitting the doubleheader with the Corsairs in a pair of low-scoring pitchers duels.
Castleton 1, UMass Dartmouth 0 (9 Inn.)
Sunday's opener was a battle in the circle between the Spartans'
Olivia Joy and the Corsairs' Jill Richards, and in her best outing of the young season it was Joy outlasting Richards to earn her first win of the year. Pitching a complete game, the senior allowed just five hits and fanned five across nine innings to secure her fifth career shutout, moving her to fourth on the all-time list.
In a game where hits were few and far between UMass Dartmouth tried to build an early lead on a lead-off single into right field in the bottom of the second. Another one-bagger to the left side set the Corsairs (14-7, 1-1 LEC) up with runners on first and second with one out, but a strikeout from Joy and unassisted putout by
Kayla Fac at third kept the game scoreless.
The Spartans (4-6, 1-1 LEC) responded in top of the third with a single to left center from
Jess Heinrichs before Fac got on base after taking a pitch to the arm. Like UMass Dartmouth though, the Spartans were unable to capitalize, grounding into a double play to end the inning. Both sides grabbed a hit apiece in the fourth before Joy and Richards retired the next nine batters each to send the game into extra innings.
After a scoreless eighth inning, Castleton finally broke open the scoring with a run in the ninth to take the lead. The Spartans' first two batters went down to grounders before
Hannah Mosher got her first hit of the day on a single to right field. Taking advantage of the opportunity,
Allison Almond ripped a double to right field on the ensuing at bat to score Mosher and put Castleton ahead 1-0.
With the game in her hands, Joy retired the Corsairs in order to earn the hard-fought Game 1 victory.
Castleton 0, UMass Dartmouth 1
Game 2 mirrored the script of the afternoon's first, but this time it was UMass Dartmouth grabbing the 1-0 victory after seven innings.
Alexis Rogers got the start in the circle for Castleton, allowing just three hits and the game's lone run in six innings of work, while
Kate LaPan,
Miranda Fish, and
Alexandra Brouillette were the only Spartans to register a hit.
Neither side could muster more than a single hit over the game's first four innings before UMass Dartmouth finally broke the scoreless tie in the fifth, taking advantage of a leadoff single and a couple of stolen bases to grab the 1-0 lead. The Spartans got runners on in both the sixth and seventh innings, but were unable to advance them, resulting in the close 1-0 loss and series split.
Castleton returns Monday, April 3 to face off against Plattsburgh State in their home-opener, with first pitch of the doubleheader set for 3 p.m.
