Vartuli Spins No-No, Homers Fly In Owls' Playoff Win
Sarah Hough and Hannah Wodecki hit record-breaking home runs
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | R | H | E |
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0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
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WESTFIELD, Mass. – Westfield State sophomore Angelina Vartuli tossed a no hitter, and Sarah Hough (2 hr) and Hannah Wodecki hit homers to power the top-seeded Owls to an 8-0 win over #6 MCLA in the quarterfinal round of the Massachusetts State Collegaite Athletic Conference Tournament at Sullivan Field on Thursday afternoon.
With the win Westfield (36-1) advances to tomorrow's 11:00 a.m. winner's bracket game tomorrow at Sullivan Field.
MCLA (19-19) will play in a loser's bracket elimination game at 1:00 p.m. The remainder of the tournament will be hosted by Westfield State at Sullivan Field.
Vartuli faced one more than the minimum in six innings of work before the eight-run rule was invoked. Hailey Peabody reached on an error on a pop up in the fourth inning as Vartuli and Slack nearly collided on the play with the pop dropping out of Slack's glove for the lone base runner of the day for the Trailblazers. Vartuli struck out 12, one off her career-high, set at MCLA earlier this season.
Hough set the tone early with a solo shot to left field with one out in the bottom of the first, and the Owls would tack on three more runs with a double from Wodecki and an RBI double from Slack, and a 2-run single from Caroline O'Donnell.
Wodecki homered to lead off the fourth, setting the school's career home run record with her 18th, breaking the mark set by Sarah Bingham '25 last season. Hough ended the game with a 3-run walk off home run to give the Owls the eight run lead. With two home runs today, Hough has 11 this season, breaking the record of nine that Wodecki set in 2024.
The Owls scoring offense entered the day ranked third in the nation at just under nine runs per game.
Hough finished 2-4 with two home runs and four RBI, Wodecki was 2-3 with a home run, double 2 runs scored and an RBI. Arielle Ostman added two hits, a run and a stolen base from the nine spot in the order.
Westfield entered the day as the 10th ranked team in the NCAA Division III NPI rankings, and was ranked 21st in the NFCA/GoRout D3 poll. The no-hitter was the third of the season for the Owls' pitching staff.
Westfield will play #2 Worcester State a 8-2 winner over #5 Bridgewater today, in Friday's 11 a.m. semifinal game. Bridgewater and MCLA will meet in an elimination game at 1:00 p.m. at Sullivan Field.