Softball Takes Down St. Norbert, Falls Twice in Florida

Clermont, Fla. (March 17, 2022) – The Western New England Softball team had to battle three teams today down in Florida. They dominated in the first game against St. Norbert College 9-1, where they picked up six runs in the fourth inning. The fell short to The Plattsburgh State Cardinals for a final score of 2-1, and Carroll University-Wis. 8-0.

Game 1: Western New England 9, St. Norbert College 1

The Golden Bears defeated St. Norbert College in five innings of play. Megan Beebe opened the top of the first inning with three straight outs, two of them being strikeouts. In the bottom of the inning, they completed three hits and one run to control the lead. The only run that St. Norbert completed was in the top of the second inning. They only had two hits on the game. WNE freshman Alex Ferriouolo got her first career homerun in the bottom of the second for their only run of the inning to put them back up for a score of 2-1.

The bottom of the fourth was great play for the Golden Bears. They compiled six runs to completely dominate the game. With only one out in the inning, Ferriouolo doubled, Kaleigh Blades singled and Ferriouolo advanced and then scored off an error. Blades then stole third, Taylor Keegan was walked and then stole second. Kailey Carrano picked up an RBI on a walk, and Lizzie Weston picked up two RBIs off a single to right field. They got another out on a strikeout, and then Cori Rizzo and Madison Mason collected RBIs before the Golden Bears received their final out of the inning. To close out the game in the final inning, St. Norbert got three straight outs, and the Golden Bears put up one more run and the win for a final score of 9-1.

Inside The Circle

• Western New England Keegan went 3-3 during the first game and completed three runs.
• Ferriouolo picked up her first career homerun and went 2-3 at bat.
• Carrano was also perfect at bat, went 2-2 for the Golden Bears and recorded two RBIs.
• Pitcher Beebe pitched in all five inning of the game and picked up the win. She faced 18 batters, only allowed two hits and had seven strikeouts
• Western New England scored nine runs in 13 hits on the game.

Game 2: Plattsburgh State 2, Western New England 1

The first inning of the game, the two teams only had one hit. The top of the second inning Cori Rizzo tripled and then scored on Brianna Floyd's RBI for the Golden Bears only lead of the game. Plattsburgh had three straight outs to close out the second inning. Dina DiBlasio picked up another hit in the top of the third, doubled to right field. It was the only hit of the inning. WNE tried to increase the action in the fourth. After Rizzo reached first on a fielder's choice, she stole second, advanced to third, but then got out at home plate for the third out of the inning. The Cardinals tallied two points on the board in the bottom of the fourth on two hits. They controlled the game from here on. The Golden Bears went another three straight outs in the top of the fifth and the sixth. They put up two hits in the top of the seventh but reached their third out before they could get another run. They fell to Plattsburgh 2-1 for the second game on the day.

On the Ball Field

• Western New England's Brianna Floyd went 2-2 in the second game of the day and collected one RBI.
• Dina DiBlasio went 2-3 at bat, and Cori Rizzo had the only run in the game.
• Pitcher Kayli Rosenkrans picked up her second loss. She pitched in six innings, faced 23 Batters, allowed five hits, two runs, and recorded four strikeouts.
• Western New England had one run in eight hits on the game, giving up two runs on five hits.

Game 3: Carroll University-Wis. 8, Western New England 0

The Golden Bears went scoreless in five innings against Carroll University-Wis. The second inning was the killer. WNE put up only one hit in the top and Carroll went for five runs in four hits. The Golden Bears went for a straight set of outs in the top of third, but they held Carroll to no runs in the bottom of the inning. Carroll added two more runs in the bottom of the fourth and one more in the bottom of the fifth. The Golden Bears only had three hits on the game and lost in five innings 8-0.

From The Diamond

• Western New England's Cori Rizzo and Alex Ferriouolo went 1-2, and Brianna Floyd went 1-1 in the final game of the day.
• Pitcher Ava Blanchard pitched in 4.2 innings and picked up the loss for the game. She faced 28 batters allowed 11 hits, eight runs, and only two strikeouts.

Up Next: The Golden Bears complete their Florida trip tomorrow, March 18, with another three-game event. The first match up is against the University of Wisconsin-Stout at 1:45 p.m., in the second, the Golden Bears will take on University of Wisconsin-Whitewater at 4 p.m., and the last game of the day is against McDaniel College at 6:15 p.m.

Also on March 18 in Florida: St. Norbert will play against the College of New Jersey at 1:45 p.m. and Hope College at 4:15 p.m., Plattsburgh State will take on Utica College at 2:45 p.m. and University of Wisconsin- River Falls at 5:15 p.m., and Carroll University is set to face University of Southern Maine at 9:15 a.m. and Wisconsin Lutheran College at 11:30 a.m.