CASTLETON, Vt. - Despite six different players notching hits, the Western Connecticut State University softball team saw its season come to an end after dropping both games of a doubleheader at Castleton University on Saturday. With the pair of losses, the Wolves finish at 19-21 overall and 4-12 in league play.
Castleton improved to 18-14 overall and 9-7 in the LEC, advancing to the postseason championship tournament.
After a scoreless first inning in the opener, the Spartans opened up the scoring and never looked back with a pair of runs in the second.
Miranda Fish got things started with a single down the third-base line that ricocheted off the bag. On the ensuing at-bat, Rogers hit her first collegiate triple to score the graduate student, before crossing home plate herself on a sac fly from
Alexandra Brouillette to put Castleton up two.
Joy struck out the side in the top of the third, setting up Castleton to build on their own lead with an RBI bunt from Almond making it a 3-0 game. The Wolves tacked on their second and final hit of the game in the fourth before the Spartans added two more runs in the home half to put Castleton ahead 5-0.
Game Two was more tightly contested with the Spartans holding just a 5-4 advantage in hits en route to the two-run win.
Mosher stayed hot at the plate going a perfect 3-3 — her .431 batting average in LEC games leads the conference — while Brouillette added another RBI to her season total.
Neither side created much offense in the opening inning before it was Castleton once again breaking the tie in the second. Rogers kicked off the inning with a double to left field, advancing to third on a sac bunt by Fish. With her teammate at third, Brouillette hit another deep ball that was caught but allowed Rogers to cross home plate to make it a 1-0 game.
The Wolves threatened to take the run back in the top of the third with a one-out double from junior infielder
Rachael Ushka (Southbury, Conn.), but Ross forced a grounder for the second out before fanning her second batter of the afternoon to end the inning.
In the home half of the frame, Mosher stepped up to the plate with one out and hit a rifle to right center field. Turning the corner at second with speed, the graduate student forced an errant throw by the second baseman that would result in her scoring to double Castleton's lead.
WestConn nearly scored again in the fourth, but a laser from Fish in left field and a strong stand by Mosher at the plate kept the visitors off the board. Each side tallied a hit in the fifth before both going hitless the remainder of the game to hand the Spartans the 2-0 win and series sweep.
