Ferriouolo's Walk-Off Caps Two-Win Day for Softball in CCC Tournament

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (May 10, 2023) – It is CCC tournament time for the Golden Bears. Having locked up the two-seed on Saturday, the Golden Bears hosted pod bracket B. Day one of play saw the Golden Bears host Suffolk University in Game One. The Golden Bears took care of business in game one with an 8-0 win in five innings. Game two went eight innings against Wentworth, and for the third time this season, the Golden Bears walked it off against the Leopards.

Game 1: Western New England 8, Suffolk 0

Beebe started the opening game and started fast, seeing three batters, striking out two of them, and getting the other to fly out for a one, two, three inning. It was Ashlyn Conley's turn in the circle for the Rams. Taylor Keegan worked a walk to start the top of the first inning. She would work her way around to third and score on a wild pitch to give the Golden Bears an early 1-0 lead. Beebe would follow that up with a quick three-up, three-down inning. Conley would also settle in after Madison Mason got on base. Conley got the next three outs to give the Rams some momentum going into the top of the third inning. Beebe would squander that momentum with another one, two, three inning where she got her third strikeout of the game and 100th of the year. The Golden Bear offense was inspired, making the bottom of the third inning a big one. The Golden Bears had bases loaded with two outs in the inning; the offense struck for WNE. Madison Mason started the rally for WNE with a single to left field. That brought home Baca and DiBlasio to make the lead 3-0 for the Golden Bears. Alex Ferriouolo would follow that up with another single to left field, and a bobble by the left fielder brought Kailey Carrano home to push the lead to 4-0. That was followed by a wild pitch that brought Ferriouolo and Mason home, and the lead was pushed to six. 

The Rams would get two hits off Beebe in the top of the fourth inning but would not get a run through, and the Golden Bears were back at the plate for the bottom of the fourth inning. The Rams would make a pitching change by bringing in Diana Rucinski. The Golden Bears got two more runs, starting with a wild pitch bringing Kaleigh Blades home. Paige Baca then had a massive double down the left field line, bringing Taylor Keegan home for the eighth run of the game. Ava Blanchard would then come in for relief and pitch a one, two, three inning to end the game 8-0, sending the Golden Bears to the winner's bracket.

Inside The Diamond:

• Megan Beebe got the win in game one, only letting up two hits against 14 batters and striking out three of them.
• Paige Baca went 2-3 with a double and an RBI.
• Kailey Carrano went 2-3 with two singles. 
• Madison Mason recorded two RBIs on one hit.
• The Golden Bears won 8-0.

Game 2: Western New England 4, Wentworth 3

Megan Beebe took to the circle for game two, as well. Beebe started game two right where she left off, seeing three Leopard batters and efficiently sending them down one, two, three in the inning. The Golden Bears' offense fed off the momentum from Beebe. Dina DiBlasio sent a shot to second base that was not fielded cleanly, and both Keegan and Baca came home. That gave the Golden Bears an early 2-0 lead. WNE would load the bases after that but could not get another run during the first inning. Beebe turned around and kept the Leopards hitless in the top of the second inning. Julie Schriver would do the same to the Golden Bears in the bottom of that inning. The Leopards got a pair of hits during the top of the third inning, but Beebe stayed strong and kept WIT off the board. Dina DiBlasio would start the bottom of the third with a hit, but then Schriver shut the rest of the Golden Bears down, and the score stayed 2-0 after three innings of play. 

The top of the fourth inning saw another Leopard hit, but a Dina DiBlasio snag at second, and Beebe's pitching kept the Leopards scoreless through four innings. The Golden Bears found themselves with a runner on first early in the fifth inning, but a clean double play organized by the shortstop ended their hopes of another inning with runs. The Leopards came out swinging in the top of the fifth. They put two on with two out, and Briana Beverly sent a rocket over the center field fence to give the Leopards a 3-2 lead. Erin Hancock would replace Schriver in the bottom of the inning and sit the Golden Bears down in order to keep the lead for the Leopards going into the sixth inning. A quick hit saw the Leopards threaten in the top of the sixth inning, but Beebe and the defense kept the deficit at one. That was critical as Kailey Carrano led off the inning and turned on a pitch that she sent way over the left-center field fence to tie the game at three. The rest of the Golden Bears went down in order, but the damage was done, and going into the seventh inning, the game was tied 3-3. Beebe returned to the circle in the seventh inning and kept the Leopard batters off the bases. That led to the Golden Bears coming to the plate in the bottom of the seventh. The Golden Bears got the bat on the ball, but Hancock limited the hits to inside the infield, and the game headed to extra innings.

Extra innings saw Beebe get the first out of the inning. However, a double would see a WIT player on second. Beebe was not phased. Beebe struck out the next batter and then got the fourth batter of the inning to fly out to center field, and the Golden Bears were out of the top of the eighth inning. The Golden Bears would load the bases in the bottom of the eighth with no outs. Then, WIT's pitcher, Hancock, grabbed two strikeouts, leaving it all up to Alex Ferriouolo. Ferriouolo worked a full count, and after a 12-pitch at-bat, Ferriouolo poked the ball just over the shortstop, winning the game for the Golden Bears. WNE won the game in extra innings by a score of 4-3.

Inside The Diamond:

• Megan Beebe got the win. Beebe pitched eight innings, let up seven hits, and struck out five batters.
• Dina DiBlasio went 3-4 with two RBIs.
• Kailey Carrano went 1-2 with two walks and a huge home run.
• Alex Ferriouolo had the walk-off single to send the Golden Bears into tomorrow's game with no losses.
• The Golden Bears won 4-3 in eight innings of play.

Up Next: 

The Golden Bears will play tomorrow, May 11, at 4:00 PM against the winner of the early game at 2:00 PM.