DiBlasio Collects Career 100th Hit as Golden Bears Remain Undefeated at Home

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (April 2, 2022) – The Western New England Softball team went for their eighth straight win and remain undefeated at home after a doubleheader conference game against the Salve Regina University Seahawks, winning 5-2 in the first, and 4-3 after eight innings, in the second.

Records:

• Western New England: 11-6
• Salve Regina University: 8-7

Game 1: Western New England 5, Salve Regina 2

The game kicked off with Salve Regina getting one hit then three quick outs in the top of the first inning. The Golden Bears put up one run and two hits with one error for the Seahawks. Alex Ferriouolo earned an RBI and Dina DiBlasio scored the run. The Golden Bears kept Salve from earning a run while they picked up two more in the bottom of the fourth inning. WNE's Taylor Keegan earned an RBI while Ines Baez Flores scored. Senior Dina DiBlasio completed her career 100^th hit and picked up the RBI for the Golden Bears to take a 3-0 lead heading into the fifth inning. DiBlasio also collected two more RBIs in the bottom of the sixth with a double to right field that Kaleigh Blades and Brianna Floyd completed runs on. WNE had a 5-0 lead going into the top of the seventh inning. To close out the ball game, Salve Regina's Katie Ramos hit a homerun for two RBIs that gave them their first runs of the game, they got three quick outs after that to finalize the game, and the Golden Bears win 5-2.

Inside The Diamond:

• Western New England's was led by the Dina DiBlasio who completed her 100^th career hit, she went 3-4 at bat, completed one run, and earned three RBIs.
• Alex Ferriouolo went 2-3 and collected an RBI, and Taylor Keegan had the other RBI for the Golden Bears plus a completed run.
• Starting Pitcher Ava Blanchard pitched in all seven innings bringing her record to 5-1. She faced 31 batters, had four strikeouts, allowing seven hits and two runs.
• The Golden Bears scored five runs in nine hits, giving up two runs in seven hits.  

Game 2: Western New England 4, Salve Regina 3

In the top of the first, The Golden Bears pitcher Megan Beebe struck out the first two Seahawks batters, allowing a double hit and an RBI before their third out. In the bottom, the Golden Bears got on base from a double it by Taylor Keegan. Dina DiBlasio grounded out to third base and collected an RBI as Keegan ran past home. The first inning ended with a tie score of 1-1. With two outs, the Seahawks earned another run in the top of the second on an error by the third baseman but picked up the third on a foul caught by the Golden Bears catcher Amaya George. WNE tied the ballgame in the bottom of the inning, Alex Ferriouolo scored on an error by the Seahawks catcher, they picked up the last out of the inning on a strikeout. Salve only had one hit in the top of the third, and WNE took the lead in the bottom. Keegan hit a triple to rightfield, and then scored on a wild pitch. They led 3-2 entering the fourth inning. In the fourth, Salve had no hits in the top with two players left on base and WNE had one hit in the bottom, also two players left on base. The Seahawks did not get another hit until the top of the seventh on a pinch hit singled to rightfield. They picked up another hit and earned a run to tie the game back up at 3-3 entering the bottom of the inning. The Golden Bears got three straight outs to send the game into an extra inning. Beebe struck out two of Salve's batters after they already had one out in the top of the eighth. In the bottom, Ferriouolo hit a Sac fly for the Golden Bears to win the game 4-3.

Around The Diamond:

• Western New England's Taylor Keegan was 2-4 in the second game on the day and completed two runs.
• Alex Ferriouolo had a Sac fly and completed a run and Dina DiBlasio had the other RBI for the Golden Bears.
• Western New England scored four runs in five hits on the game.
• Starting Pitcher Megan Beebe collected the win, pitching in all eight innings, faced 34 batters with nine strikeouts, allowed seven hits and three runs.

Up Next:

• The Golden Bears are on the road for their next doubleheader, tomorrow April 3. They are traveling to Wentworth Institute of Technology to battle the Leopards for a 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. start time.
• The Seahawks return home to face the University of New England Nor'Easters Sunday April 3 with a 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. game time.