The Massachusetts softball team played another three-game weekend of Mid-American Conference matchups against Northern Illinois on Friday and Saturday. The Minutewomen (9-19, 2-7 MAC) had a dominant 11-2 win in five innings against the Huskies (11-10, 5-4 MAC) on Saturday morning, fell in a late 3-2 loss on Friday and had a similar outcome in a 5-4 loss on Saturday afternoon.
UMass’ bats lit up in the third inning on Saturday morning when they scored eight runs. A wild throw from shortstop Alana Powell allowed Olivia Packard to reach first, but Northern Illinois recovered by getting the out at second on an attempted sacrifice bunt from Riley Kairer.
The Minutewomen stepped away from the small-ball approach, and Lily Woodworth hit a double to right-center field. Kairer advanced to third and was almost picked off after rounding the base, but dove back to the bag just in time. Kairer scored on a ground ball to second base as she slid under the glove of catcher Trinity Jones Estrada.
UMass’ aggressive base running in the third inning didn’t end there. A delayed steal to second base from Katharine Heslin put her in scoring position as she dove around the Huskies’ second baseman. Brooke Musch stole second and third after reaching base on an error, then scored on a single to left field from Lillie Scheivert. Kairer also stole third base after her double to deep right-center field. A line drive double to left field from Packard also brought in both Odyssey Torres and Scheivert. Four of the eight runs the Minutewomen scored in the third inning came with two outs.
“I thought [the response] was great. They responded with the at-bats that they’re capable of having. We were able to score a lot of runs and manufactured from that,” head coach Danielle Henderson said. “We talk about just putting pressure on the other team, and the more you can do that, the more opportunities you give yourself to be able to score.”
Kelsey Blanchette had five strikeouts in five innings pitched, the most whiffs of the freshman’s collegiate career.
“Kelsey pitched a great game as well,” Henderson said. “She was just letting the ball move a little bit more,” Henderson said.
On Friday, the Northern Illinois broke through with a late push in the bottom of the sixth inning, beginning with a walk for Kayla Estrada. Her pinch runner, Cara Cruthers, advanced to second on a wild pitch, and scored the tying run after a single from Powell. A sacrifice bunt then moved Powell to third, and a single up the middle from Jones Estrada scored the Huskies’ game-winning run. Madison Carlson shut UMass down in the top of the seventh with a pair of strikeouts to secure the win.
Despite the late loss, the Minutewomen scored first and held on to their lead for most of the game. Singles from Tiegan Walsh and Eliana Raposo plus a sacrifice bunt from Riain Keefe put two runners in scoring position in the top of the third. Musch hit a slow ground ball to Stewart at first base, but an awkward throw to Jenna Turner as she went to cover first allowed both Raposo and Walsh to score for UMass. Torres hit a deep flyout to center field to end the offensive push for the Minutewomen.
A speedy Powell opened the scoring for the Northern Illinois. After reaching first base on a walk, the Chicago native stole both second and third. Hannah Streicher then walked Mia Morera, who was caught in a pickle when she tried to steal second. Although she was out at second to end the inning, Powell raced home during the play and put the hosts on the board 2-1.
Carlson was dominant in the pitcher’s circle with seven strikeouts and zero walks across seven innings. She allowed only three hits in the game, which is the least amount of hits she has allowed when pitching a complete game this season.
UMass had another late 5-4 loss against the Huskies on Saturday afternoon. The matchup was tied 4-4 going into the fifth inning, and a fly ball from Turner to left field got her to third base after Kairer lost the ball in the sun. Stewart drove in Turner with a single up the middle to put Northern Illinois up 5-4.
Packard tied the game for the Minutewomen in the third inning with a single to right-center field that brought in both Torres and Keefe, but UMass remained scoreless from that point on. Musch had a hard hit to the center field wall in the fifth inning, but the Huskies’ well-executed relay ended with Morera tagging her out at third base.
Streicher came in to pitch for Olivia Cutuli in the first inning after Northern Illinois scored four runs, and pitched the rest of the game for the Minutewomen. She had three strikeouts and pitched in both close-scoring contests on the weekend.
“That’s something else she has been working on,” Henderson said. “We made sure that we mixed it up a little bit so that they couldn’t sit on one pitch. I think she did a great job executing her pitches and being comfortable with throwing all of them, and I thought that made her a lot more effective for those two games.”
Carlson came in for Lily Cassell to pitch the final three innings for the Huskies, letting up only one of UMass’ six hits in the game. With three strikeouts on Saturday, Carlson had a total of 10 strikeouts in just over 10 innings against the Minutewomen.
“They looked like they were swinging a little too hard, and if you swing hard, you’re going to get a pop-up or ground ball instead of hitting those line drives,” Henderson said. “I thought it looked a little more effortless against the other pitchers. Their pitcher did a good job spinning it and moving [the ball], we just have to be a little bit shorter.”
UMass will return to Amherst for an afternoon game against Dartmouth on March 31 at 3:30 p.m. The matchup can be streamed on the UMass Sports Network.
Madison Keddy can be reached at [email protected].
