#4 BAY PATH ADVANCES TO 2010 NECC SOFTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP SEMIFINAL ACTION

Box Score: http://athletics.baypath.edu/sports/sball/2009-10/stats/necc01.htm

LONGMEADOW, Mass.- The #4seed  Bay Path Wildcats defeated the #5 Daniel Webster Eagles 8-0 in five innings of the 2010 New England Collegiate Conference  Championship Quarterfinals this afternoon on the campus of Bay Path. Senior outfielder Sarah Gates (Crown Point, Ind.) led all players with two hits and three RBI.

Despite a halt of game after the bottom of the first inning due to extreme weather conditions, the Wildcats managed to keep the 2-0 lead and score six more runs in the next three innings to wrap up the game early. 

In the top of the first the Eagles picked up the first hit of the game with junior shortstop Amanda Varricchio (Middletown, Conn.) sending one hard to second base. Bay Path senior Sam Gunseth (Swanzey, N.H.) overthrew to first sending Varricchio to second. Varricchio would take third base on a ground-out by the senior hurler Kristina Rieger (Concord, N.H.). This would prove to be closest the Eagles would come to scoring.

Bay Path would strike early scoring the eventual game winner and first run in the first. Junior lead-off batter Katie Begin (Weare, N.H.) would reach on a walk. Next up, Gunseth would lay down a perfect sacrifice bunt and reach first on a throwing error by Daniel Webster’s senior catcher Erin Hurd (Centerville, Mass.). Gunseth would steal second, while Gates smacked one to centerfield to plate Begin. Sophomore infielder Meg Whitcomb (Lyndon, Vt.) flied out o right field scoring Gunseth on the sacrifice.

After a twenty minute break for wind and rain, Bay Path would again score three more in the bottom of the second.  Begin would notch an RBI, bringing sophomore catcher Kellie Lastowksi (Turners Falls, Mass.) home on a single pop-fly past shortstop. Gates would again produce big with two RBI launching a shot to left field plating Begin and freshman outfielder Ashley Provost (Ludlow, Mass.).

Junior infielder Jess Priestly (Middleboro, Mass.) would start the ball rolling in the third shellacking a shot down the left line. Freshman pinch runner Jen Scionti (Cromwell, Conn.) would eventually score the sixth run off an RBI single through the left side by Provost. Nizinski would send a sacrifice fly out the right field to score Lastowski.

Whitcomb would tally the final RBI in the fourth singling up the middle with Gunseth crossing the plate. This would prove to be the much needed eighth run to enact the mercy rule in favor of the Wildcats.

Senior Jess Nizinski (West Springfield, Mass.) would limit the Eagles to only three more hits not allowing any runners to advance to second.  Nizinski (15-12) faced 18 batters giving up only four hits for her first shut-out of the season.

Rieger (7-7) suffered the loss giving up eight runs, six earned, on seven hits. Rieger walked three while fanning one for the game.

Varricchio, Hurd, Rieger and freshman outfielder Chelsey Crawford (Westfield, Mass.) would each notch hits for Daniel Webster.

#4 Bay Path will advance to the semifinals on Friday, May 7 at 10:00 a.m. facing the top seed and host Lesley University at the UMass Boston softball field in Cambridge, Mass. Daniel Webster finishes the year with a 13-17 record, Bay Path is now 21-18 overall.