Softball drops two to CCSU on Senior Day

Bulldogs honor seniors, fall to CCSU in 2012 finale

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – The Bryant University softball team honored its three seniors, Laura Bowen (Hudson, Mass.), Lindsay Martin (Methuen, Mass.) and Lauren McCart (Voorhees, N.J.) on Sunday afternoon, but Central Connecticut State managed to sweep both games of a Northeast Conference doubleheader by scores of 6-2 and 14-3, respectively, to close out the 2012 season.

The Bulldogs end the season at 20-25 overall with an 11-9 mark in Northeast Conference play, finishing in sixth place in the regular season standings. The 2012 season marked the second straight year that Bryant eclipsed the 20-win mark after the program won 19 games combined in its first two years of Division I reclassification. The Bulldogs will become eligible for the four-team Northeast Conference Tournament in the spring of 2013.

Central Connecticut moved to 31-19 on the season, setting a new single-season record for victories while matching Bryant's league record with an 11-9 mark against NEC competition.

After the games, Bryant head coach Lisa-Ann Wallace took time to acknowledge and honor the program's graduating seniors in a special post-game ceremony. All three players became pioneers for a team that embarked on a four-year transition to Division I when they set foot on campus.

Knowing full well that they would be ineligible for postseason competition throughout their college careers, the trio formed one of the memorable tri-captain tangents that the program has ever known, and all three have forged their spots in the record books and, more importantly, the lives of the Bryant Athletics community forever.

Game 1

Both teams combined for 19 hits, but a five-run fourth inning proved to be Bryant's undoing, as the Bulldogs fell in the opener, 6-2, against the Blue Devils.

Rookie left fielder Madeline Velasquez (Los Angeles, Calif.) led all Bulldogs with three hits and finished 3-for-4 with a run scored, while fellow Golden State native Kendall Corder (Carmichael, Calif.) drove in the only two Bryant runs of the contest with her second home run of the year.

Junior hurler Brittany Hart (North Andover, Mass.) took the loss and fell to 11-8 overall after yielding all six runs on 11 hits over seven innings. The righty struck out four and walked one in her final start of the year. Laura Messina earned the win for Central after going seven innings while allowing two runs on eight hits, striking out eight and walking just one along the way.

The Blue Devils took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second, as Alyssa McCoart lifted a one-out home run to deep left, giving the visitors the early edge.

Two frames later, Central Connecticut jumped out to a 6-0 lead after scoring five runs in the top of the fourth. A pinch-hit single by Sarah Emery with the bases loaded scored the first run, and leadoff hitter Arielle Bruno blasted a grand slam to left to score the rest, as the Blue Devils edged ahead by six after four innings of play.

Bryant clawed back with two runs in the bottom of the sixth, as Velasquez led it off with a single up the middle before Corder launched a mammoth two-run homer to straightaway center, cutting the deficit to 6-2. The Bulldogs got another runner on, but Messina sat down the next three straight to escape further damage.

The Bulldogs had their chances over the course of the game, but stranded nine base runners compared to seven for Central. The Blue Devils out-hit Bryant, 11-8, in Game 1, as well.

Game 2

After committing four errors and allowing Central Connecticut to score eight runs in the top of the first, the Bulldogs faced an uphill battle that proved to be insurmountable, as the Blue Devils cruised to a five-inning, 14-3 victory to finish off the two-game sweep in the late game Sunday afternoon.

Six different players recorded a hit for the Bulldogs, with sophomore Aubrey Mable (Aurora, Colo.) leading the way with a 2-for-2 showing at the plate, walking once and scoring once while driving in a run for the home side. Junior Kate Murray (Fitchburg, Mass.) also knocked in another run in a pinch-hitting opportunity in the bottom of the fifth.

Junior Jennifer Jacob (Deer Park, N.Y.) started and took the loss, ending her season with a record of 9-17 in the circle. The New Yorker surrendered 10 runs (seven earned) on six hits over 3 2/3 innings while striking out one and walking nine.

Jordan Tingley picked up the win for the Blue Devils to improve to 4-3 on the year, yielding one unearned run on five hits in four innings while striking out two and walking two. Abby Harpp came in for the hold in the final inning, allowing two runs on two hits with a walk.

Central's first eight runs in the first inning all came on just three hits, as the Bulldogs set a new season high with four errors committed all in that inning.

The Blue Devils tacked on one more in the second before Bryant responded in the bottom of the third. With two runners on, Mable knocked a base hit to center that scored classmate Lauren Guy (La Habra, Calif.) from second to make it 9-1.

The Blue Devils, however, answered with one more run in the top of the fourth and four more in the fifth to take a 14-1 lead. Trailing by 13, the Bulldogs pushed home two final runs in the bottom of the fifth, as sophomore Taylor Bell (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.) plated a run on a groundout and Murray singled through the left side with two outs to cut the gap to 14-3. But that would be the closest the Bulldogs would get before eventually falling by that same score.

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The Bulldogs will become eligible for postseason competition next season, and Wallace has already infused a young and promising lineup with an impressive four-member Class of 2016 that will help prepare the program to take even more steps forward next year.

For continuing coverage of Bryant University softball, check back online at www.bryantbulldogs.com; also be sure to follow the Bulldogs on Twitter @BryantAthletics.