SB: Lasers Defeat UMass Dartmouth During First Half of the Spring Games

Leesburg & Clermont, FL - The Lasell Softball team travelled down to Florida for their first few games of the season, and have gone 1-5 against tough competition, including a 2-1 walk off win over UMass Dartmouth.

Game One vs Farmingdale State

In their first game of the season, the Lasers took on Farmingdale State, and fell 5-1. After the Rams put up five runs in the first two innings, the Lasers settled in. But they were unable to get the offense going, only scoring a run in the third inning on a double steal. The Lasers had five hits in the game, all singles. Alyssa Bland and Ally Kirck each had two. Abigail Fortin took the loss on the mound, going six innings and striking out two.

Game Two vs #11 Bethel (MN)

In their second game of the day the Lasers took on the #11 team in the country in Bethel (MN), and they sent their ace to the pitching circle in Eryn Sheeley. Bethel also sent their ace out, and it proved to create quite the pitcher's duel. Bethel scored in the first on a fielder's choice, but the Lasers answered in the fourth on a fielder's choice of their own. Neither team would score again until the seventh when Bethel would score two, allowing them to win 3-1.

The two teams combined for just seven hits, with Lasell getting a hit from Brianna Gendreau, Abigail Fortin, and Katie Hopkins. On the mound, Sheeley went seven innings, and struck out three.

Game Three vs Marywood

Lasell would fall behind early, in the shape of a 5-0 deficit after two innings, but would fight back to within one, and had the tying runner on base in the seventh, but were unable to push it across, falling 5-4. After getting one run back in the fourth on an Alyssa Bland RBI single, the Lasers really made things interesting in the sixth, putting together four hits to push across three runs. Eryn Sheeley, Abigail Fortin, and Brianna Gendreau all had RBI hits in the inning. But they were unable to tie things up, and fell 5-4.

All of the Marywood offense came in the first two innings, as Sheeley came on in relief afterwards, and allowed no hits across four innings, and struck out four. The Lasers had the bats going, collecting 11 hits. Gendreau, Hopkins, Shyanne Raccio, and Sheeley all had two hits.

Game Four vs UMass Dartmouth

The Lasers broke into the win column in their fourth game in dramatic fashion, defeating UMass Dartmouth 2-1 on a walk off single from Abigail Fortin. Fortin was truly the star of the game, as she also pitched 5.1 innings of relief, allowing just one hit and one run. Starter Shyanne Raccio struck out the first two batters of the first, before Fortin came in, and then Raccio then returned to the pitching circle in the seventh and shut down the UMass Dartmouth offense.

UMass Dartmouth's lone run of the game came in the third on a bunt, while the first Lasell run came on an error during a steal. While UMass Dartmouth had just the two hits, the Lasers collected nine hits, with Fortin, Gendreau, and Hopkins each having two.

Game Five vs Springfield

The Lasers travelled down to Florida, just to play a team an hour away from Lasell's campus in Springfield, dropping the game 8-2. Lasell struck first, with a run scoring on a ground out in the first, but Springfield responded with two runs in the bottom half of the inning to take the lead. They would continue to build the lead up, and eventually take it 8-2.

Of the Lasers five hits, a majority came from the usual suspects, as Fortin and Gendreau again each had two hits.

Eryn Sheeley went all six innings for the Lasers, but did not have her usual effective stuff, striking out out no batters, a rarity for the career strikeout leader in program history. The zero strikeouts marked the first time in her Lasell career that Sheeley did not have at least one strikeout in a pitching outing, her 59th career pitching appearance.

Game Six vs Hope

In a game that the Lasers fell behind early, they made things interesting, but ultimately fell 10-9 to Hope. The Lasers spotted Hope eight runs in the first, and another in the second, falling behind 9-0. Hope scored another run in the fifth, making it 10-0. But the Lasers did not give up, and made a push in the fifth. A Katie Hopkins RBI single gave the Lasers their first run, and then an error gave them a second. The bases were loaded for Eryn Sheeley, and she hit a bomb for a grand slam, drawing the Lasers within four at 10-6. After an uneventful sixth inning, the Lasers made took their final at bats in the seventh. Sheeley had another huge hit with an RBI double. She then scored on an error. After another error allowed another run in, the Lasers trailed just 10-9, and had the tying run at third. But Lasell was unable to make up the final run, falling 10-9.

Sheeley had the big game with five RBI, and was one of three Lasers to have two hits along with Hopkins and Ally Kirck. Abigail Fortin was once again nails out of the bullpen, going 6.2 innings in relief, allowing just two runs.

Up next - The Lasers will look to rest on Wednesday before continuing play on Thursday with two games, one against Haverford at 10:15am, and the other at 12:30pm against Monmouth (Ill.).