MASSACHUSETTS MARITIME SOFTBALL

Saturday, March 26, 2016

Alison Rollins Field, Buzzards Bay, Mass.

GAME #1 FINAL:          LYNDON STATE 6, MASSACHUSETTS MARITIME 2

GAME #2 FINAL:          LYNDON STATE 14, MASSACHUSETTS MARITIME 0 (5 INNINGS)

BUZZARDS BAY, Mass. --  Senior Shelby Sheridan (Enosburg Falls, Vt.) tossed a pair of three-hitters and struck out eight over 12 innings of work to lead Lyndon State to a sweep of a non-league college softball doubleheader from Massachusetts Maritime Saturday afternoon by scores of 6-2 in the opener and 14-0 in a five-inning nightcap in games played at Alison Rollins Field.

The host Buccaneers (1-5) jumped out to a 1-0 first inning lead in the opener when sophomore Kaylene Murphy (Randolph, Mass.) doubled and scored on freshman Rachel Gardner’s (Bourne, Mass.) two-out single, but the visiting Hornets (2-10) took the lead for good with a three-run third inning rally highlighted by RBI singles off the bats of Sheridan and sophomore Cori Sousa (Amherst, N.H.) that followed a steal of home by sophomore Kylie Valentine (Barnet, Vt.).  Lyndon State added three more tallies in the fourth on an RBI single by junior Mindy Carl (Newport, N.H.), a fielder’s choice groundout by freshman Lily Stinehour (Lunenburg, Vt.) and another steal of home by sophomore Kiya DeWitt (Pittsburg, N.H.), and the Buccaneers plated their second run of the opener in the fifth on a bases loaded walk to sophomore Carli Thomas (Brewster, Mass.) to account for the final margin.

Sousa and DeWitt each collected two of Lyndon State’s seven opening game hits, as Sheridan helped her own cause with two hits at the plate while limiting Massachusetts Maritime to three hits and striking out five to present first-year Hornets’ Head Coach Greer Lemnah with her first collegiate victory.  Murphy accounted for two of the three Buccaneer hits in the lid-lifter, as Thomas allowed four earned runs and fanned five in suffering the setback inside the circle for the hosts.

Lyndon State plated the only two runs it would need in its first at-bat of the nightcap on a throwing error and an RBI single by freshman Julia Kearney (Medford, Mass.), who extended the Hornets’ lead in the third with a two-run single to right.  The visitors iced their second game triumph with a pair of five-run outbursts in both the fourth and fifth frames, as junior Brooke Dolloff (Rumford, Maine) drove in three runs with a single and triple while Stinehour added a two-run double.  The Hornets also received a run-scoring groundout by Carl and took advantage of a pair of errors and three wild pitches in their final two at-bats, and Sheridan took care of the rest inside the circle by striking out three and facing just three batters over the minimum in the nightcap.  Stinehour and Dolloff each rapped out three hits as part of an 11-hit attack in the second outing for Lyndon State, which also received two hits from Valentine.  Senior Cassie Sanderson (North Dighton, Mass.) and sophomore Emily Bacchiocchi (Wareham, Mass.) collected singles in the nightcap setback for Massachusetts Maritime, as Thomas also recorded a base hit and struck out seven in going the distance once again for the Buccaneers.

Massachusetts Maritime hosts Daniel Webster in a non-league doubleheader next Thursday afternoon at Alison Rollins Field beginning at 3:30 p.m., while Lyndon State hosts St. Joseph (Vt.) in a non-league twinbill on Tuesday afternoon in Lyndon, Vt. that also begins at 3:30 p.m.