BUZZARDS BAY — The monkey, as they say, is now officially off their collective backs.
The Massachusetts Maritime Academy women’s softball team picked up its first two wins of the 2015 season Thursday afternoon at Alison Rollins Field, defeating Pine Manor College by scores of 16-0 and 16-3. The Buccaneers are now 2-8 on the season.
Former Nauset Regional High School softball standout Carli Thomas picked up her first collegiate career win Thursday as the Mass. Maritime Buccaneers swept Pine Manor College.
Photo courtesy of MMA Athletics
Mass. Maritime freshman Carli Thomas (Brewster, Mass.), a former Nauset Warrior standout, tossed a two-hit shutout in the opener and drove in five runs in the nightcap to lead the Buccaneers to victory in the non-league twinbill. It was Thomas’ first career collegiate victory on the mound.
The hosts scored six runs without the benefit of a hit in their first at-bat of the opener, and Massachusetts Maritime broke things open with an eight-run third inning rally that featured a two-run double and a two-run triple off the bat of freshman Sarah Monteiro (North Falmouth, Mass.), who drove in five runs in the lid-lifter. Junior Brittany Driscoll (Spencer, Mass.) joined Monteiro with two hits each as part of a nine-hit opening game attack for the Buccaneers, who also received singles from senior Meghan Weir (North Andover, Mass.) and freshmen Alexis Jendzejec (West Greenwich, R.I.), Haley Delahanty (Holden, Mass.) and Kaylene Murphy (Randolph, Mass.). Thomas added a triple and plated two runs to help her own cause inside the circle for Massachusetts Maritime, as she struck out a career-high seven to earn her first collegiate victory. Junior Vanessa Soto (Fontana, Calif.) and freshman Ashley Whiteshield (Seward, Ak.) rapped out hits in the opener game setback for the visiting Gators (0-14), as junior Chardonai Rose (Fairfield, Calif.) fanned a pair over four innings inside the circle.
Pine Manor jumped out to a 3-0 lead in its first at-bat of the nightcap on a two-run triple by Rose that was followed by an RBI single off the bat of junior Cathryn White (Douglas, Mass.), but Massachusetts Maritime responded with 10 runs in the bottom of the inning that featured a pair of singles and three RBI from freshman Emily Bacchiocchi (Wareham, Mass.) and a two-run doubles each off the bats of Thomas and fellow freshman Elizabeth Bramhall (Plymouth, Mass.). The Buccaneers added four more tallies in the second on a Thomas two-run triple and a run-scoring single by Driscoll, and the hosts closed out the scoring in the third on an RBI triple by Murphy and a groundout by Thomas.
Thomas, Bramhall, Bacchiocchi and Weir each had two hits as part of an 11-hit nightcap attack for Massachusetts Maritime, as sophomore Cassidy Nice (Carver, Mass.) earned her first career win inside the circle for the Buccaneers by scattering three hits and striking out four to improve to 1-2 on the season. Rose, who went the distance and fanned three, collected two of Pine Manor’s three hits in the second game setback, as the hosts presented Head Coach Megan Giammalvo with her first collegiate triumphs.
Massachusetts Maritime heads to North Adams, Mass. on Saturday afternoon to take on MCLA in a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader that begins at 1:00 p.m., while Pine Manor travels to Medford, Mass. on Saturday morning for a non-league twinbill with Fisher beginning at 11:00 a.m.
BATTERIES
PMC: Chardonai Rose and Cathryn White
MMA: Carli Thomas and Kaylene Murphy
WP: Thomas (1-6) LP: Rose (0-5)
GAME #2 FINAL: MASSACHUSETTS MARITIME 16, PINE MANOR 3 (5 INNINGS)
BATTERIES
PMC: Chardonai Rose and Cathryn White
MMA: Cassidy Nice and Kaylene Murphy
WP: Nice (1-2) LP: Rose (0-7)
— Massachusetts Maritime Academy Director of Sports Information Jim Seavey contributed the bulk of this report. Portions were edited and written by Capecod.com Sports Editor Sean Walsh
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