Cochrane Raps Out Four Hits, Picks Up Third Win As Softball Splits Non-League Twinbill With Wentworth

MASSACHUSETTS MARITIME SOFTBALL

Tuesday, April 18, 2017

Alison Rollins Field, Buzzards Bay, Mass.

GAME #1 FINAL:          WENTWORTH 16, MASSACHUSETTS MARITIME 6 (6 INNINGS)

GAME #2 FINAL:          MASSACHUSETTS MARITIME 9, WENTWORTH 6

BUZZARDS BAY, Mass. --  Freshman Melissa Cochrane (Walpole, Mass.) allowed three earned runs and struck out a pair to earn her third victory of the season as Massachusetts Maritime used a six-run third inning rally to post a 9-6 nightcap victory over Wentworth to gain a split of a non-league college softball doubleheader Tuesday afternoon at Alison Rollins Field.  Senior Kelsey Gorski (Killingworth, Conn.) rapped out four hits and drove in three runs in the opener as the visiting Leopards notched a 16-6 six inning triumph.

The host Buccaneers (5-11) trailed 5-1 heading into the bottom of the third of the nightcap before evening matters on RBI singles by Cochrane and sophomore Rachel Gardner (Bourne, Mass.) that sandwiched a two-run double by junior Carli Thomas (Brewster, Mass.).  A wild pitch and a sacrifice fly by junior Elizabeth Bramhall (Plymouth, Mass.) accounted for the other two runs of the frame, and after the visiting Leopards (2-19) pulled to within one in the sixth on an error, Massachusetts Maritime iced its triumph with a pair of tallies on an error and an RBI triple off the bat of freshman Jill Corazzini (Paxton, Mass.) to account for the final score.

Corazzini and junior Kaylene Murphy (Randolph, Mass.) added two hits as part of an 11-hit attack in the second game win for the Buccaneers, as Cochrane helped her own cause with two hits as well for the winners.  Sophomore Hayley Rutkey (Burnt Hills, N.Y.) collected three of Wentworth’s 14 nightcap hits, as she and freshman Deanna DiPilato (Worcester, Mass.) rapped out RBI singles as part of a four-run third inning rally that included a run-scoring double off the bat of sophomore Emily Winter (Stratford, Conn.).  Junior Vanessa Weymouth (Fremont, N.H.) and Rachel Willcutt (Tilton, N.H.) joined Winter and sophomore Libby White (Pittsfield, Mass.) in picking up two hits each in the Leopards’ setback, as Rutkey allowed five earned runs in two innings of work inside the circle.

Wentworth jumped out to a 7-2 second inning lead on the strength of two RBI from Gorski and three Buccaneer errors, and after the hosts closed back to within two on run-scoring singles by junior Sarah Monteiro (North Falmouth, Mass.) and freshman Jenna Nalette (Goffstown, N.H.) in the third, the Leopards plated two runs in both the fourth and fifth innings on a pair of errors and Winter’s RBI single to grab an 11-5 advantage.  The visitors iced their opening triumph with a five run sixth inning outburst that included a two-run single by Willcut and an RBI single by Gorski, as Thomas’s RBI double in the bottom half of the frame accounted for the final score.

White collected three hits in the first game victory for Wentworth, which received two hits each from DiPilato, Willcutt and freshman Rebecca Wehrle (South Amboy, N.J.).  Junior Megan Berryman (Middleboro, Mass.) drove in three runs in the win for the Leopards, as Rutkey allowed just one earned run in going the distance to pick up her first triumph inside the circle.  Thomas, Cochrane and Bramhall each had two hits as part of a 10-hit Buccaneer attack in the opening contest, as Nalette went the distance in allowing eight earned runs to fall to 2-5 on the spring.

Massachusetts Maritime hosts Framingham State in a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader on Saturday afternoon at Alison Rollins Field beginning at Noon, while Wentworth hosts the University of New England in a Commonwealth Coast Conference twinbill on Thursday afternoon at Sweeney Field in Boston that begins at 5:00 p.m.