Swanson, Weir Plate Runs As Softball Drops Doubleheader Decision At Pine Manor

MASSACHUSETTS MARITIME SOFTBALL

Thursday, April 17, 2014

Pine Manor Field, Chestnut Hill, Mass.

GAME #1 FINAL:                 PINE MANOR 8, MASSACHUSETTS MARITIME 0 (5 INNINGS)

GAME #2 FINAL:                 PINE MANOR 11, MASSACHUSETTS MARITIME 3 (5 INNINGS)

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. --  Freshman Alexis Bushika (Adams, Mass.) tossed a five-inning opening game no-hitter and struck out eight over a combined 10 innings to lead Pine Manor to a sweep of a non-league college softball doubleheader from Massachusetts Maritime by scores of 8-0 in the opener and 11-3 in the nightcap in contests played Thursday afternoon at Pine Manor Field.

Sophomore Vanessa Soto (Fontana, Calif.) drove in a pair of runs in the opener for the host Gators (2-12), who presented first year Head Coach Samantha Slonski with her first collegiate victories.  Pine Manor plated three runs in the first and third innings before adding single tallies in the fourth and fifth to back Bushika’s gem, as she also notched her first career triumph with the no-hit effort that included five strikeouts.  Sophomore Chardonai Rose collected two of the hosts’ seven hits in the lid-lifter, as sophomore Cassie Swanson (Quincy, Mass.) fanned a pair over 4 1/3 innings in suffering the setback inside the circle for the visiting Buccaneers (0-12).

Massachusetts Maritime grabbed a 1-0 lead in its first at-bat of the nightcap, as senior Crystal Sherman (Charlton, Mass.) reached on a lead-off error and later scored on Swanson’s RBI groundout.  Pine Manor evened matters in the second when Soto scored on a wild pitch, but the Buccaneers took a 2-1 edge in the third when freshman Bezie Tesson-Legnine (Wellfleet, Mass.) led off with a single and scored on a two-out error.  The Gators took advantage of a wild pitch and an error in the bottom of the frame to take a 3-2 lead before extending that margin to 4-2 in the fourth on Rose’s run-scoring single, and Massachusetts Maritime closed back to within one in the fifth when Sherman singled up the middle and scored on an RBI double off the bat of junior Meghan Weir (North Andover, Mass.).  The hosts iced their triumph and completed the sweep with a seven-run fifth inning rally that was highlighted by a two-run single by senior Macayla Kirylo (Pawtucket, R.I.), as Pine Manor also received an RBI single off the bat of freshman Maria Vaughan (Okinawa, Japan) as well as a pair of bases-loaded hit-by-pitches.  Vaughan rapped out two of Pine Manor’s four hits in the nightcap in support of Bushika’s second win of the day, as she allowed an earned run and fanned three.  Freshman Cassidy Nice (Carver, Mass.), who struck out one in 4 1/3 innings, joined Sherman, Weir and Tesson-Legnine with a hit in the second game setback for the visitors.

Massachusetts Maritime heads to Salem, Mass. on Friday afternoon to take on Salem State in a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader that begins at 2:00 p.m., while Pine Manor hosts Wheelock in a non-league twinbill tomorrow afternoon at Pine Manor Field beginning at 3:00 p.m.