Springfield, Mass. - May 3, 2024 - The Springfield College softball team split its New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) doubleheader this afternoon against Smith College on Potter Field. The Pioneers took game one, 7-3, before the Pride came back for a game two win, 4-1.
Springfield, which was ranked fourth in this week's NCAA Division III Region II poll, is now 26-8-1 overall and 14-4 in NEWMAC play, while Smith moved to 20-15-1, 10-8. The Pride will have the chance to claim its first NEWMAC regular season title tomorrow at home against Salve Regina University. First pitch is slated for 12:00 pm and senior day will be celebrated following the twinbill.
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Game One: Smith 7, Springfield 3
After three scoreless innings, Juno Schantz's tenth homer of the season gave Smith a 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth. Taylor Ang gave Smith a 3-0 advantage when she lifted the ball over the fence in left in the top of the fifth. Smith tacked on four more runs in the frame on a bases clearing three-RBI double to the gap in right center and an infield hit by Bailey Gray made as the Pioneers took a commanding 7-0 lead.
Springfield attempted to rally and put together three runs in the bottom of the six. Singles by Carissa Pecchia (Mamaroneck, N.Y.) and Callie Gendron (Berlin, Conn.) as well as a walk by Lucy Puskas (Roxbury, Conn.) loaded the bases for Breannah McCann (Poway, Calif.). McCann quickly unloaded the bases on a double down the left field line, but that was all Smith starter Emilie Doty allowed on the day.
Doty improved to 11-7 with a complete game effort allowing eight hits and three runs for the Pioneers.
Game Two: Springfield 4, Smith 1
Springfield struck for two runs in the bottom of inning number one as a wild pitch allowed Pecchia to score before an RBI knock by McCann plated Gendron for a 2-0 edge. Smith got one back in the top of the second, but that is all the offense that Springfield starter Ashley Pugliese (Long Island, N.Y.) allowed in the nightcap.
Amelia DeRosa (Miller Place, N.Y.) began the fifth with an infield single before she came across to score Springfield's third run of the game on an RBI to the gap in left center by Pecchia. Then in the sixth, an RBI single up the middle by DeRosa plated Ava Rainone (White Plains, N.Y.) for the 4-1 advantage.
Pugliese allowed just one runner to reach in the seventh and secured her 11th win of the year as she scattered just three hits in a complete game effort for the Pride.
