Bridgewater State Tops Wellesley in NCAA Softball Action

WELLESLEY, Mass. -- Bridgewater State earned its first NCAA Tournament victory since 2003, defeating Wellesley College, 6-1, in the second game of the 2014 NCAA Division III Softball Wellesley Regional. The Bears move to 30-12 on the season, advancing to tomorrow's 11:00am game to face Saint Joseph's College.  Wellesley (27-10) will play in an elimination game at 1:30pm against Western Connecticut State. 

Bridgewater State's Amber White tossed a four-hit gem, throwing all seven innings to move to 23-3 on the season. She allowed just one run (earned), while striking out seven and walking one. 

Offensively, the Bears were led by a 2-for-2 performance from Jocelyn Bettencourt, who drove in a pair of runs. Jill Welch collected two hits and an RBI in the win, while Kelly McCarthy and Courtney Leddy also drove in runs for Bridgewater State.

The Blue's offense was paced by two hits from Mariah Philips, while Emilyrose Havrilla and Ashtyn Coleman added singles in the defeat. Lindsay Johnson suffered the loss for Wellesley, throwing seven innings, allowing four earned runs on eight hits with eight strikeouts. She moved to 18-7 on the season.

Johnson pitched around five early errors for the Blue, but the senior hurler had five strikeouts in the first four innings to keep the Bears off the board. 

In the top of the fifth, Bridgewater State's McCarthy broke the scoreless tie by lacing an 0-2 pitch off the left field scoreboard. It was her second home run of the season, and it broke up Johnson's no-hit bid. Singles from Leddy, Welch, and Bettencourt followed, the third of which plated a run to make it 2-0. Bridgewater State added a third run in the inning, as a steal from Bettencourt caught Wellesley off balance and the throw sailed to center, plating the third Bears run.

Bridgewater State tacked on three more runs in the top of the sixth. Singles from Samantha LoPilato and Karissa Pagan started the inning, before a ground out advanced both runners to third. A Leddy sacrifice fly made it 4-0 Bears, before a Welch double pushed the edge to 5-0. An infield single from Bettencourt followed, with the throw to first hitting the runner, allowing the third run of the inning to score, making it 6-0 Bears. 

Wellesley made some noise in the bottom of the seventh, rallying for a run with two outs. Havrilla poked a single into left field before Anna Pisac worked a walk to put runners on first and second. A two-out single through the right side from Philips scored Havrilla to make it 6-1, but White forced a ground-out to end the game.