Wenham Mass. (April 22, 2022) – The Western New England Softball team split with the Gordon College Fighting Scots on the road in late season CCC play, losing the first game 5-2 and coming out on top after nine innings in the second, for a final of 4-2.

Records:

• Western New England: 18-12, 8-4 CCC
• Gordon College: 14-15-1, 3-9 CCC

Game 1: Gordon College 5, Western New England 2

It was a tough start for the Golden Bears, getting a strikeout swinging and another one looking in the opening inning. Dina DiBlasio connected for a single and Kailey Carrano followed her with one, but that was all for the top of the first. Gordon did not get a hit in the bottom, and the entire second inning went without hits or runs. It wasn't until the top of the fourth that the Golden Bears got on the scoreboard. Cori Rizzo began the action with a single to left field before Madison Mason was walked. Amaya George was in to pinch run for Mason and Alyssa Poisson hit a Sac Bunt for Rizzo and George to advance. Kaleigh Blades came to bat to collect the RBI, and the last run was unearned by George after an error by Gordon's short stop. This gave the Golden Bears a 2-0 lead. The Fighting scots had no runs in the bottom of the fourth, but these were WNE's final runs of the ballgame. Gordon went on to completing five runs in the bottom of the fifth inning. Isabella Rivera had the first two RBIs for Gordon, Lily Rivera got the next one, and Ami Rivera got the last two. With no more runs completed for the rest of the innings, Gordon College ended up beating the Golden Bears 5-2 in the first game of the evening.

Behind The Boxscore:

• The Golden Bears were led by Kaleigh Blades, who went 2-3 and had the only RBI for her team.
• Cori Rizzo was also 2-3 at bat and completed a run for the Golden Bears along with Amaya George.
• Starting Pitcher Ava Blanchard pitched in 6.0 innings, faced 31 batters and recorded three strikeouts.
• The Golden Bears had two runs on nine hits and allowed five runs on 14 hits.

Game 2: Western New England 4, Gordon College 2

Dina BiBlasio, second up to bat, drove a homerun right out of the park in the top of the opening inning. The Fighting Scots earned a run in the bottom, and the game was tied up 1-1. Both teams struggled to get on the scoreboard again after that. The game went into two extra innings to decide a winner. In the top of the ninth, with Taylor Keegan placed on second, DiBlasio was walked to start it off. Kailey Carrano singled to shortstop while Keegan and DiBlasio advanced. Amaya George was in to pinch run for Carrano, and Alex Ferriouolo hit a SAC fly RBI as Keegan completed the first run of the inning. Cori Rizzo followed with a double to left center for two RBIs as DiBlasio and George ran past home plate and gave the Golden Bears a 4-1 advantage going into the bottom of the inning. WNE held Gordon to just one run to close out the game 4-2 for the teams to come out even after the day.

Inside The Diamond:

• Western New England was led by Cori Rizzo who was 2-4 at bat and had two RBIs
• Dina DiBlasio hit a homerun, was 2-3, and completed two runs, and Alex Ferriouolo had the other RBI on a Sac Fly.
• Starting Pitcher Megan Beebe took the win, pitching in all nine innings with 33 batters faced, allowing two runs with six strikeouts.
• The Golden Bears had four runs in six hits and allowed only 2 hits on eight runs.

Up Next: The Golden Bears will be back in more CCC action this Saturday, April 23, for more doubleheader action against Roger Williams University at Western New England for a 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. game time.

The Fighting Scots will also return to play on Saturday. They will be traveling to Nichols College for more CCC play on that day with a 12 and 2 pm ballgame.