MASSACHUSETTS MARITIME SOFTBALL

Thursday, March 17, 2016

Carr Diamond, Boston, Mass.

GAME #1 FINAL:          WENTWORTH 7, MASSACHUSETTS MARITIME 2

GAME #2 FINAL:          WENTWORTH 15, MASSACHUSETTS MARITIME 5 (5 INNINGS)

BOSTON, Mass. --  Sophomore Hayley Sabino (Topsfield, Mass.) rapped out three hits and drove in six runs to lead Wentworth to a sweep of a non-league college softball doubleheader from Massachusetts Maritime by finals of 7-2 in the opener and 15-5 in a five-inning nightcap in games played Thursday afternoon at Carr Diamond.

Sabino collected two hits and three RBI in the opening game triumph for the host Leopards (4-4), who also received a two-run single off the bat of sophomore Vanessa Weymouth (Fremont, N.H.) as well as two hits from sophomore Rachel Willcutt (Tilton, N.H.).  Wentworth jumped out to a 2-0 third inning lead in the lid-lifter, but the visiting Buccaneers (0-2) sliced that deficit in half in the fourth when sophomore Sarah Monteiro (North Falmouth, Mass.) scored on a throwing error.  The Leopards extended their edge to 5-2 in the fifth and added two more in the sixth inning after sophomore Carli Thomas (Brewster, Mass.) plated Massachusetts Maritime’s second run of the opener with an RBI single, as freshman Erica Norquist (Rutland, Mass.) scattered five hits and fanned nine in going the distance inside the circle for the hosts to improve to 3-2 on the season.  Senior Brittany Driscoll (Sutton, Mass.), sophomore Kaylene Murphy (Randolph, Mass.) and freshman Brooke Miles (Lynn, Mass.) joined Monteiro and Thomas with singles in the setback for the visitors, as Thomas fanned three in a complete-game effort.

Wentworth took control of the nightcap with eight first inning runs, as the Leopards added six more tallies in their second at-bat to complete the sweep.  Willcutt paced a nine-hit attack for the hosts with a pair of safeties and three RBI, while Weymouth and Sabino also drove in three runs in the second contest.  Senior Heather Pinkston (Concord, Calif.) collected two RBI for Wentworth in support of freshman Hayley Rutkey (Burnt Hills, N.Y.), who allowed four hits in four-plus frames to pick up her first collegiate victory inside the circle.  Driscoll and freshman Emily Goodwin (Halifax, Mass.) each rapped out two of Massachusetts Maritime’s eight hits in the nightcap setback, as the Buccaneers plated a run in the fourth on Driscoll’s RBI single before rallying for four runs in the fifth on a two-run single off the bat of sophomore Emily Bacchiocchi (Wareham, Mass.) that was followed by run scoring safeties from Goodwin and sophomore Olivia Norton (Quincy, Mass.), but the visitors could get no closer.  Thomas again went the distance for Massachusetts Maritime inside the circle, as she fanned one in four innings of work.

Massachusetts Maritime hosts Maine-Presque Isle in a non-league doubleheader on Sunday morning at Alison Rollins Field beginning at 11:00 a.m., while Wentworth entertains the University of New England in a Commonwealth Coast Conference twinbill on Wednesday afternoon at Carr Diamond that begins at 3:30 p.m.