Owls Blank Salem, 12-0 to Advance in MASCAC Tournament
Westfield's Allyssa Slack launched her first collegiate home run as part of the Owls 11-hit attack
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | R | H | E |
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0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
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3 | 3 | 4 | 2 | X | 12 | 11 | 0 |
WESTFIELD, Mass. --- Westfield State softball unholstered the bats early and often, getting three hits and three RBI from Sarah Hough (Southwick, Mass.), and a two-run home run from Allyssa Slack (Westfield, Mass.) as the top-seeded Owls posted a 12-0 win over #5 Salem State in a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference Softball tournament game on Thursday afternoon at Sullivan Field.
Westfield advances to the winners' bracket to play at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, while Salem stays alive in the losers' bracket and will play an elimination game at 1:00 on Saturday. Please note that the semifinal round games have been pushed to Saturday due to the amount of rainfall in the Friday forecast. Commensurately the tournament's championship round will move to Sunday.
Westfield jumped out to a 3-0 lead after one inning, as Hough reached on a one-out single, Hannah Wodecki (Southampton, Mass./Hampshire) singled, Mia Alfonso (Pittsfield, Mass.) delivered an RBI single up the middle before Sarah Bingham (Reno, Nev./Wooster) smacked a 2-run double to right center.
The Owls added three more on four hits in the second, chasing Salem starting pitcher Gracie Martineau after just 1.2 innings. Hough added an RBI single and Alfonso a 2-run single in the inning.
Westfield tacked on four more in the third, getting a two-run single from Hough and an RBI sac fly from Alfonso.
Slack ripped a 2-run, line-drive home run to deep left center field in the fourth to cap the scoring.
In the circle, Westfield State senior Katherine Canty (Natick, Mass.) (W, 13-3) did the job, as she didn't allow a hit through three innings and finished with a two-hit shutout while fanning three.
Alfonso finished 2-2 with four runs batted in.
Westfield improves to 32-9 on the season. The Owls tie the 1975 baseball team with 32 wins, the most ever for any Westfield State team in a season.
In the fourth inning Salem got a single from Samantha Gaona-Sullivan (Billerica) and a double from Tara Perryman (San Juan Capistrano, Calif. /Dana Hills). Westfield wiped out the scoring threat in the fourth with a nifty 4-6-3 double play. The Vikings are now 18-19 overall on the season.
Westfield will next face the winner of today's #2 Framingham vs #3 Worcester State game, while the Vikings will meet the loser of that contest.