Long Island Softball Drops Heartbreaker to UMass, 4-3

(Box Score)

5/18/07 -- AMHERST, Mass. (May 18, 2007) – The Long Island University softball team battled back from a 3-2 deficit but eventually fell to Massachusetts, 4-3, in nine innings in the opening game of the Amherst, Mass. Regional on Friday afternoon.

UMass loaded the bases in the ninth for Candice Molinari, who ripped a base hit up the middle for the game winner. Sophomore Jenny Giles (Melbourne,
Fla.) pitched beautifully but suffered the loss, going 8 1/3 while striking out six.

The Blackbirds opened the game with a pair of unearned runs in the second inning. A one-out base hit by junior Jessie DePippo (Westlake Village,
Calif.) was followed by a walk to freshman Mariesha Marker (Keizer, Ore.).
Freshman Chelsea Martinson (Agoura, Calif.) moved both runners into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt. Sophomore Renae Beauchman (Eagle Rock,
Calif.) hit a sharply hit grounder to shortstop that was fielded and thrown to first base. Whitney Mollica could not come up with the throw and allowed both runners to score.

In the bottom half, the Minutewomen cut the LIU lead in half. A base hit by Amanda Acampora advanced Lauren Proctor, who had walked to lead off the inning, to third base. A double steal by UMass was executed perfectly, as pinch runner Michea Holness took second while Proctor advanced home to plate a run.

Two runs by UMass in the bottom of the fifth erased the Long Island lead and gave the Minutewomen their first lead of the game. An RBI double by Whitney Williams tied the game and two Blackbird errors allowed her to come around and score the go-ahead run.

The lead would be short-lived, however, as the Blackbirds manufactured a run in the top of the sixth to knot the game at 3-3. Marker reached base on an error, and following a strikeout to Martinson and a stolen base, Beauchman came up with an RBI single to center field to bring Marker around to score.

Long Island will take on No. 4 seed Colgate on Saturday, May 19 at 2:30 p.m.
The Red Raiders fell to top-ranked Oklahoma, 5-2, in the day’s other game.