CHESTNUT HILL — Massachusetts Maritime freshman and former Nauset Warrior standout Carli Thomas’ (Brewster, Mass.) two-run homer sparked a seven-run, seventh inning rally that snapped a 7-7 tie and lifted Massachusetts Maritime to a 14-7 nightcap victory over Wheelock and a sweep of a non-league college softball doubleheader played Thursday afternoon at Pine Manor Field. In the opener, Thomas and fellow freshman Elizabeth Bramhall (Plymouth, Mass.) each had three hits and drove in three runs in a 12-5 Buccaneer victory.
The Massachusetts Maritime Academy Softball team swept a doubleheader from Wheelock College Thursday afternoon.
MMA Athletics Photo
The visiting Buccaneers (4-12), who have now posted their highest single-season win total in a decade, trailed 7-4 heading into the top of the sixth of the nightcap, but a sacrifice fly by sophomore Cassidy Nice (Carver, Mass.) and an RBI groundout by freshman Angela Nikituk (Otis, Mass.) pulled Massachusetts Maritime to within one. Freshman Alexis Jendzejec (West Greenwich, R.I.) reached on a two-out fielder’s choice in the top of the seventh to set the stage for Thomas’s go-ahead round tripper (the first of her career), and the visitors received two-run singles from Nikituk and junior Brittany Driscoll (Spencer, Mass.) as part of their seven-run uprising to complete the sweep.
The host Wildcats (2-19) had taken a 2-1 lead in their first at-bat of the nightcap with a pair of unearned runs, but Jendzejec’s first career home run, a three-run shot , gave the Buccaneers a 4-2 second inning edge. Wheelock plated two more runs in the second to even matters on an RBI triple by freshman Rachael Simpson (Littleton, Mass.) and a run-scoring single off the bat of junior Kiersten Cosgrove (Pequannock, N.J.), and after Massachusetts Maritime took a 5-4 third inning lead on Thomas’s RBI groundout, the hosts used RBI singles from Simpson, Cosgrove and sophomore Rebecca Biancardi (Peabody, Mass.) to take a 7-5 advantage after five, setting the stage for the visitors’ late rally.
Freshman Sarah Monteiro (North Falmouth, Mass.) rapped out four of the Buccaneers’ 16 hits in the second game victory, as Thomas drove in four runs while Jendzejec and Nikituk combined for three hits and six RBI. Bramhall and fellow freshmen Emily Bacchiocchi (Wareham, Mass.) and Kaylene Murphy (Randolph, Mass.) each collected two hits for Massachusetts Maritime in support of Thomas, who went the distance inside the circle and recorded three strikeouts for her second win of the day and third of the season. Simpson and Cosgrove each had two hits and three RBI in a 12-hit nightcap attack for Wheelock, as sophomore Vanessa Valenti (Woodstock, Conn.) went 5 2/3 innings inside the circle in suffering the setback for the Wildcats.
Bramhall helped stake the Buccaneers to a 4-0 third inning lead in the opener with a first inning RBI single and a run-scoring triple that sandwiched two more RBI singles off the bats of Thomas and Bacchiocchi. Wheelock closed that gap to one in the fourth on Simpson’s run-scoring double and a two-run single by Cosgrove, but Massachusetts Maritime took control of the contest with a seven-run fifth inning outburst that included a pair of two-run singles from Thomas and Driscoll, RBI safeties from Monteiro and Nice as well as Bramhall’s run-scoring two-bagger. The Wildcats got two runs back in the bottom of the frame on RBI groundouts by sophomore Ashley Penta (Topsfield, Mass.) and Meghan Lewis, and Nikituk’s RBI single in the top of the sixth plated the visitors’ final run and closed out the scoring in the lid-lifter.
Thomas, Bramhall, Bacchiocchi and Driscoll each had three of the Buccaneers’ 18 opening-game hits, while Jendzejec and Nice added two hits each for the winners. Thomas recorded seven strikeouts in going the distance inside the circle for Massachusetts Maritime for her first triumph of the day and second of the spring. Senior Molly Rose (Weymouth, Mass.) rapped out three of Wheelock’s 11 hits in the opening game setback, while Cosgrove chipped in with two hits and a pair of RBI. Sophomore Maggie Doyle (Kingston, Mass.) went the first 4 1/3 innings inside the circle for the Wildcats while fanning one in taking the defeat.
Massachusetts Maritime heads to Westfield, Mass. on Saturday afternoon for a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader with Westfield State beginning at 1:00 p.m., while Wheelock travels to Longmeadow, Mass. for a New England Collegiate Conference twinbill with Bay Path on Saturday afternoon that also begins at 1:00 p.m.
Game 1 – BATTERIES
MMA: Carli Thomas and Kaylene Murphy
WHL: Maggie Doyle and Molly Rose
WP: Thomas (2-10) LP: Doyle (1-10)
Game 2 – BATTERIES
MMA: Carli Thomas and Kaylene Murphy
WHL: Vanesa Valenti and Molly Rose
WP: Thomas (3-10) LP: Valenti (1-9)
Home Runs: MMA – Alexis Jendzejec (1), Carli Thomas (1)
— Massachusetts Maritime Academy Director of Sports Information Jim Seavey provided this report. Edited by Capecod.com Sports Editor Sean Walsh
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