Golden Bears Take Two of Three in Final Day of The Spring Games

Clermont, Fla. (March 18, 2022) – The Western New England Softball team went two for three on ball games on the day, picking up back-to-back wins against the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, 7-3, and McDaniel College, 10-7, after losing to the University of Wisconsin-Stout 4-2, to go home 5-6 from their trip to Florida.

Game 1: University of Wisconsin-Stout 4, Western New England 2

The Golden Bears got off to a 2-0 start in the bottom of the first inning where Taylor Keegan scored on a wild pitch and Kailey Carrano had a sacrifice fly that allowed Paige Baca to score. The next two innings had no runs and very little hits by either team. In the top of the fourth, Wisconsin-Stout hit a homerun to put the score at 2-1, Golden Bears. WNE did not respond in the bottom of the inning. Wisconsin-Stout had another spirt of runs in the top of the sixth inning. They went for three runs in two hits to take the lead of 4-2. WNE fought to come back in the bottom of the inning. Ines Baez Flores got out running to home plate and two quick unfortunate outs left the Golden Bears still down two. The seventh inning was scoreless for the two teams. The Golden Bears got out on two fly balls, and one grounded out for them to lose to Wisconsin-Stout 4-2.

Inside The Circle

• Western New England Taylor Keegan went 2-3 during the first game and completed one run. Paige Baca picked up the other run for the Golden Bears
• Kailey Carrano had the only RBI for the Golden Bears
• Starting pitcher Megan Beebe pitched in 5.0 innings and picked up the loss on the game. She faced 22 batters, allowed three hits, a homerun, with four strikeouts.
• Western New England scored two runs in three hits on the game.

Game 2: Western New England 7, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater 3

The Golden Bears opened the ball game with Kailey Carrano hitting a homerun and collecting two RBIs while Wisconsin-Whitewater only picked up one run in the bottom of the inning. The Golden Bears scored on two more runs in the top of the third where Kaleigh Blades and Cori Rizzo picked up RBIs for WNE to take the lead 4-1. Neither team scored again until the fifth inning. The Golden Bears got another run in the top of the inning. Alex Ferriouolo collected another RBI on the game while Dina DiBlasio ran past home. Wis.-Whitewater hit a homerun in the bottom of the inning for two RBIs but still trailed 5-3. The sixth inning was hitless and run-less. The Golden Bears collected two more runs in the top of the seventh which put their stamp on the game for a lead of 7-3. Wis. Whitewater did nothing in the bottom of the inning and the Golden Bears won the game.

On the Ball Field

• Western New England's Alex Ferriouolo and Cori Rizzo went 3-4 and collected one RBI. Rizzo scored on a run for the game.
• Taylor Keegan scored on two runs and Kailey Carrano hit a homerun to collect two RBIs.
• Starting Pitcher Ava Blanchard collected the win for the game, pitching in 4 innings, faced 19 batters, allowed eight hits and one run. Relief pitcher Megan Beebe pitched in 3 innings, faced 12 batters, allowed three hits, and two runs.
• Western New England had seven runs in 14 hits on the game, only giving up three runs on eleven hits.

Game 3: Western New England 10, McDaniel College 7

McDaniel College got off to a 1-0 start with a walk, a steal, and an RBI before they got three proceeding outs. They Golden Bears came back with three runs in the bottom of the inning. Dina DiBlasio picked up two RBIs on a single to right center for Kailey Carrano and Kaleigh Blades to reach home plate. Cori Rizzo picked up another RBI in the inning that DiBlasio scored on before the Golden Bears got their third out of the inning. They took the lead on the game for a score of 3-1. The top of the third, McDaniel took back the game by adding five more tallies to the board. They had five runs on three hits to bring the score to 6-3, McDaniel. WNE went for a consecutive three outs in the bottom of the inning. McDaniel scored again in the top of the fourth to now lead the ball game 7-3.

The Golden Bears started their come back in the bottom of the fourth. Alyssa Poisson hit a sacrifice fly to centerfield that Cori Rizzo scored on, Blades, DiBlasio, and Lizzie Weston picked up double RBIs. WNE picked up an impressive seven runs in seven hits and retook the game for a 10-7 lead. Second relief pitcher Ava Blanchard held McDaniel to one hit and no runs in the top of the fifth, but the Golden Bears had three quick outs in the bottom of the inning. McDaniel had no action in the top of the sixth and could not complete a run in the seventh to pick up the loss. The Golden Bears win 10-7.

From The Diamond

• Western New England's Cori Rizzo went for 3-3 in the final game of the day, completed one run, and collected one RBI.
• Dina DiBlasio went 2-4 at bat, collected four RBIs and two runs. Kailey Carrano also went 2-4, collected two RBIs and went for two runs.
• Relief pitcher Ava Blanchard pitched in three innings, she faced 14 batters allowed two hits, no runs, and had five strikeouts.
• Western New England went for 10 runs on 10 hits on the game and gave up seven runs on seven hits.

Up Next: The Golden Bears return to Western New England for their home opener with a double header against Keene St. on March 23 for a 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. start times.

University of Wisconsin-Stout continue their regular season with a double header against the College of Saint Benedict on March 26, with a 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. game time. University of Wisconsin-Whitewater remain in Florida for their next games against the New York University and William Paterson on March 19 at 9 a.m. and 11:45 a.m. McDaniel College return to play on March 24 for their double header against Randolph-Macon at 2:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.