SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (April 10, 2025) – WNE hosted the Westfield State University Owls on Thursday in a nonconference clash. The Golden Bears would score four runs in the bottom of the third inning, with two runs coming from a Riley Kane double. Westfield would score two in the fourth, one in the fifth, and one in the seventh to extend the game to the bottom of the seventh inning, where Nicolina Solanto hit a walk-off single to win the game for the Golden Bears. The Golden Bears would then see three home runs in game two from Kim Baumann, Riley Kane, and Alex Ferriouolo, leading the way to a 6-2 victory to ensure the doubleheader sweep.

Game 1: Western New England 5, Westfield State 4

Evelyn Picone would start as the WNE pitcher, and despite giving up a single to the third batter, Picone picked up the third out via a strikeout and kept the high-scoring Owls offense scoreless at the top of the first. Joss Mettey started the game in the pitching circle for the Owls and had a similar inning to Picone. Mettey would let up a single, but no runs in the bottom of the first, and the score was knotted at zero after one inning of play. Picone turned around and would let up a single, but again, that was it in the top of the second. Picone picked up a second strikeout in the top of the second before retiring the side. Mettey responded with two strikeouts and got the final batter of the inning to line out to right field. The Owls would get their first batter on base to start the third inning, but Picone worked diligently to get the next three batters out, which included another strikeout for the WNE pitcher. The Golden Bears would reward their pitcher for the great start with four runs in the bottom of the third inning. It started with Marley Rodriguez continuing Rodriguez's stellar play with a single through the left side of the infield. That brought Ava Barnhart home to give WNE a 1-0 lead. Then, with runners on second and third, Riley Kane slapped a double to left center field and scored two runs. The Golden Bears led 3-0 after Rodriguez and McDaniel scored. Lastly, Alex Ferriouolo would hit into a fielder's choice, which drove Riley Kane home, and the Golden Bears led by four after the third inning concluded. The Owls would respond, though. They started with a double before Sarah Bingham launched a two-run home run over the left-center field fence to cut the WNE lead to 4-2. Brianna Cardona would then enter the pitching circle for the Golden Bears after the homerun. Cardona let up a single to start but then would get the next three batters to ground out into fielder choice situations and got out of the fourth inning up 4-2. Angelina Vartuli would then enter the game as the pitcher for the Owls in the bottom of the fourth inning. Vartuli struck out two Golden Bears, including the final batter of the inning, with two runners on base to move the contest to the top of the fifth inning. The Owls would get closer in the top of the fifth when Sarah Hough sent a single through the right side of the infield, and that drove home Katelyn Baker to cut the WNE lead to 4-3. Ava Blanchard would take over as the WNE pitcher after that. Blanchard struck out the first batter faced. Then, Blanchard would get the next batter out, walk the third batter faced, and see Carrasquillo make a great catch in foul territory to end the top of the fifth inning and keep the Golden Bears in the lead by one. Vartuli would add to the Owls' momentum with a one, two, three inning versus the Golden Bear offense. Blanchard would answer with the same one, two, three inning, with two strikeouts to halt that Westfield State momentum. Vartuli would let up a single in the bottom of the sixth inning but would get out of the inning without another WNE run being scored, and the Owls would enter the seventh inning down 4-3. With the Owls down to their final three outs, Blanchard struck out the first two batters, but then Hannah Wodecki would extend the game with a solo home run over the center field fence. The game was tied 4-4. The Owls would get another runner on base, but then Blanchard would strike out another Owls batter out to move the game to the bottom of the seventh inning, with the Golden Bears hoping to earn their second walk-off victory in as many games. That would be the case as Nicolina Solanto would hit a low-arching single over first base to drive home Angelees Carrasquillo, who was on third. WNE won 5-4 in the bottom of the seventh.

Around the Diamond:

• The Golden Bears were led by Angelees Carrasquillo, Marley Rodriguez, and Riley Kane, who each had two hits in game one.
• Riley Kane and Shea McDaniel both had extra-base hits (both hits were doubles).
• The three Golden Bear pitchers let up nine hits and four earned runs. Evelyn Picone struck out three batters, and Ava Blanchard struck out six batters to earn the win for WNE.
• The Owls were led by Hannah Wodecki and Mia Alfonso, who both went 2-for-4.
• The Owls had four extra-base hits, with Katelyn Baker and Mia Alphonso hitting doubles and Hannah Wodecki and Sarah Bingham hitting home runs.
• The two Owls pitchers would give up ten hits and five earned runs combined. They also struck out five Golden Bear batters.
• WNE won game one 5-4 on a walk-off single by Nicolina Solanto.

Game 2: Western New England 6, Westfield State 2

Ava Blanchard continued pitching for the Golden Bears to start game two. Blanchard made quick work of the Owls in the top of the first by getting the batters out one, two, three in 6 pitches. Gianna Conte would have a few more pitches, and WNE would get a hit, but Conte held them to that hit and no runs to move game two to the second inning. Mia Alfonso would start the scoring for the Owls with a leadoff solo homerun over the left field fence to give Westfield State a 1-0 lead. Despite the Owls getting two more runners on base, Blanchard would not let up any more runs and struck out the final batter of the top of the second. The Golden Bears answered with a solo home run of themselves. It was Kim Baumann who sent a long shot over the left field fence for the Golden Bears to tie the game at 1-1. That was Baumann's first career Golden Bear homerun. The Golden Bears got another runner on, but Conte would not allow another run, and the third would begin with the teams tied 1-1. Riley Kane entered the pitching circle for WNE in the third. Kane saw a WSU runner get on base but would end the top of the third with two strikeouts to keep the score stuck at one. Catherine Canty would then enter the game as the Owls pitcher. The Golden Bears started the third with six hits in a row. After a WNE runner was picked off, WNE tacked four runs on the board. Two runs came from a Riley Kane two-run homerun to left center field. That scored Gracie Hemstock. Then, with a runner on first, Alex Ferriouolo would send a deep hit over the left field fence to improve the Golden Bear lead to 5-1, with Nicolina Solanto scoring on the homerun. Conte would get out of the inning with a strikeout, but the damage was done. Riley Kane would continue the Golden Bear momentum in the fourth inning by seeing four batters and getting three out without letting up a run. The Golden Bears would get two runners on with no outs before Conte got two outs. However, Nicolina Solanto would hit a single to center field, which drove McDaniel home to extend the WNE lead to 6-1. That is how the fourth inning would conclude. The Owls would have runners on first and second with one out but could not capitalize in the top of the fifth inning. The Golden Bears would not find success in the fifth inning as Canty sat them down one, two, three. Then, Kane would get out of a two-on, one-out situation to keep the score at 6-1 going into the bottom of the sixth inning. The Golden Bears did get a runner on but could not extend their lead. The Owls would not give up without a fight. They would hit three consecutive singles in the top of the seventh, with the third being an RBI single to right center field, which brought Sarah Hough home, and the Owls trailed 6-2. The Owls got another runner on base to load the bases with two outs and the tying run at the plate. However, Kane would strike out that batter, and the Golden Bears earned the doubleheader sweep with a 6-2 win in game two.

Around the Diamond:

• The Golden Bears were led at the plate by Gracie Hemstock, Nicolina Solanto, and Kim Baumann, who each went 2-for-3, with Solanto and Baumann picking up one RBI each.
• Kim Baumann, Riley Kane, and Alex Ferriouolo each had a home run in game two, with Baumann's home run being a first-career Golden Bear home run. They combined four five of the six Golden Bear RBIs.
• The two Golden Bear pitchers combined for six hits, two RBIs, and four strikeouts, with Riley Kane earning the win for WNE.
• The Owls were led by Mia Alfonso's 2-for-4, one-home run, two-RBI performance from the plate.
• Arielle Ostman had a double, and Mia Alfonso had a home run for the Owls.
• The two Owls' pitchers let up three earned runs and ten hits and struck out five batters in game two.
• The Golden Bears won game two 6-2.

Coach's Corner:

Game one walk-off hitter Nicolina Solanto was asked how it felt to get the walk-off hit and win the game for the team. "It felt very good. I knew I had very fast runners on base at the time so I knew anywhere I put the ball in play that they were gonna score," Solanto recounted.

Alex Ferriouolo was asked how it felt to get Ferriouolo's first home run of the season. "It felt amazing because I was in a little bit of a slump, so I was really trying to keep working and get back to where I could be, so when I felt it, I was excited," Ferriouolo noted.

Head coach Amanda Novak was asked how it felt to get two wins against a team with only four losses entering Thursday and what it took to put it all together. "I think the pitching staff in the first game did a really good job. All three of them worked differently. We gave up some runs we shouldn't have, but I think they did well. We finally clicked in the second game, hitting-wise, hitting all those home runs and base hits. It was fun to watch. I think in the cold, it's sometimes hard to get the bats going, but that was a good sweep going into a big conference weekend," Novak mentioned. When asked what it will take to get two conference wins during the weekend, Novak stated, "It's gonna take all of us. It's gonna take good pitching. We really need to play Golden Bear defense, and we need to continue to hit the ball, so I'm happy we got on a little bit of a momentum shift here with the hitting, and hopefully, we can take it into Sunday."

Up Next:

The Golden Bears will travel to West Hartford, Connecticut, for their next conference matchup with the University of Hartford Hawks on Sunday, April 13, 2025, at noon and 2:00 PM. Last year was the first time the Golden Bears had faced the Hawks and went 1-1.