LeClaire and Saucier Lead WPI Softball to Sweep of UMass Dartmouth

Photo, Recap Courtesy: WPI

Worcester, MA --- The WPI softball team swept its third doubleheader in four days Monday, beating UMass-Dartmouth, 5-4, and 6-0, hot-hitting leadoff bat Nina Murphy-Cook (Roseville, CA), who went 4 for 6 overall at Rooftop Field.

The Engineers won the opening game on a walk-off sacrifice fly by freshman Renee LeClaire (Merrimack, NH), who drove in fellow first-year Caraline Wood (Averill Park, NY) on the tag-up to help WPI prevail in a squeaker.

With the first win out of the way, the hosts cruised to victory in the nightcap, thanks to a two-hit
shutout by sophomore pitcher Kelsey Saucier (Worcester, MA), who whiffed nine batters en route to her seventh win of the season.

WPI improved to 27-5 heading into a Wednesday doubleheader back at home against Westfield State. The Engineers will follow that with its final four NEWMAC games of the season over the weekend against MIT and Babson.

UMass-Dartmouth put up three runs across the first two innings of the early game as pitcher Clare Doolin (Newton, MA) settled in, holding on to go 4-1/3 innings and strike out six.

The Corsairs' Emily Colton (Kingston, MA) scored two of those runs, singling in each of the first two innings to help the visitors take a 3-0 after two.

WPI cut into the lead in the third inning as Katie Chagami (Waipahu, HI) singled to lead off and then went to third on a base hit by Murphy-Brown. Chagami came home on a wild pitch on the next at bat to make it a 3-1 deficit.

UMass-Dartmouth got that run back in the fifth inning on an RBI single in the top of the fifth inning on an RBI single by Shannon Orton (Swansea, MA) that brought in Jill Miller (Freetown, MA) to push the Corsairs' lead to 4-1.

The visitors' advantage evaporated over WPI's next three innings at the plate, starting with a two-run homer to left center by Wood (2 for 4) in the bottom half of the fifth that also brought in Ama Biney (Worcester, MA), cutting it to 4-3.

Murphy-Cook plated Natalie Fabrizio (Hampstead, NH) for the tying run on a single to center in the sixth inning to set up the LeClaire's walk-off in the seventh.

Caroline Medino (Pompton Lakes, NJ) picked up her fourth win of the season after allowing just one hit across 2-2/3 innings in relief of Doolin.

Murphy-Cook, Wood and Chagami accounted for seven of WPI's eight hits.

Saucier faced the minimum 15 batters across the first five innings of WPI's second game before allowing lone hits in the sixth and seventh innings.

On the offensive side, WPI jumped to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first as Saucier got help from, Biney, her high school teammate at Holy Name Central Catholic in Worcester, who went 3 for 4 with two RBIs and two runs scored.

Biney drove in the first run of the game on a single in the first inning, going all the way around to third on the throw home, as Murphy-Cook scored to make it 1-0. Biney scored on the next at bat, a single by Lindsay Gurska (Revere, MA). Biney reached home again in the third inning after a leadoff double, a wild pitch and then a fielding error by the Corsairs' to make it 3-0.

The Engineers manufactured their final three runs in the sixth inning, with Biney again playing a role.
Kylie Juarez (Elk Grove, CA) started the scoring with singled up the middle that scored RiAnna May (Westminster, CO), and then Biney drove in Hope Shevchuk (Burlington, CT) — who went 2 for 2 on the game — on the next at bat with a base hit to left field. Murphy-Cook sped home for the final WPI run on a passed ball to push the lead to 6-0.