In its first home series against a Mid-American opponent, the Massachusetts softball team lost two out of three games to Western Michigan. A 5-0 win in the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader saved the Minutewomen (11-21, 3-9 MAC) from a sweep, while the Broncos’ (18-16, 7-5 MAC) defense led them to a 6-3 win on Saturday morning and a 3-0 win on Friday.
In UMass’ 3-0 loss on Friday, it was shut down by Ava Geyer. The freshman dominated the pitcher’s circle, collecting six strikeouts in a complete-game shutout where she held the Minutewomen to just three hits.
Hannah Streicher held her own defensively as well, going six shutout innings after a few hiccups in the first frame. The junior hurler started off the game with a seven-pitch walk, saw a bloop single nestle into right field and hit the next batter to load the bags.
Designated player Jordan Smith then got jammed on a pitch inside, but lifted it gracefully over the head of Lillie Scheivert at third base to place the hit in no-man’s land. Two runs came through on the lucky knock, and Jadeyn Merrill sent in Smith for a third score with a double into left-center field.
The UMass offense never got going against Geyer, managing just one hit after the third inning: a Katharine Heslin single with two outs in the bottom of the seventh.
“We were just chasing pitches out of the zone,” head coach Danielle Henderson said on Friday. “We’re probably going to see [Geyer] again at some point [Saturday], we’ve just got to be ready for that. We’ve been training for months to be able to hit the high pitch and the low pitch, and we just got to trust and be able to do that.”
In the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader, an 8-0 Minutewome win in five innings, the home offense ran the stellar freshman off the field in the first inning. Discipline shined as three free passes and two sacrifice bunts loaded the bags for them in their first at-bats.
Lily Woodworth pulled through in this two-out situation, bringing in two runs with a single into left and advancing to second on the play at the plate. Heslin piled on with another single to left field, pushing another two runs across.
Geyer was pulled for the second inning, as the Minutewomen’s offensive adjustments made for a polarizing switch in her performance.
Streicher continued her polished look from the final six innings on Friday, going all five innings while allowing just 4 hits and no runs on Saturday. The New Jersey native picked up her sixth win of the season thanks to considerable run support behind her lockdown pitching.
Leading 7-0 at the bottom of the fifth, UMass loaded the bases via an error, a walk and hit by pitch. Brooke Musch drew a game-ending free pass in a full count, activating the mercy rule by forcing in the Minutewomen’s eighth run.
In the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader, a 9 a.m. start, UMass’ bats hadn’t woken up yet. Western Michigan built a 4-0 lead on the Minutewomen with extra-base hits from Parker Ostach and Caitlin Tighe, each driving in a pair of runs in the second and third innings, respectively.
Kelsey Blanchette remained in the game through her struggle, finishing with 5.1 innings pitched while seeing six runs cross off of nine hits. Olivia Cutuli replaced the freshman and held the Broncos scoreless through the final five outs.
UMass attempted to activate a final-inning two-out rally, as a Musch triple into left-center field brought in Riain Keefe, who had walked the at-bat before. With Odyssey Torres up next and Scheivert behind her, representing the tying run, the Minutewomen had an opportunity to seize momentum at Sortino Field.
Hannah Potts paid no mind to the pressure of the moment, getting Torres to fly out and securing the series win for Western Michigan.
UMass next plays a midweek series against Buffalo at Sortino Field. The Minutewomen host the Bulls in a doubleheader with starts at 2 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 7, then conclude the series with a 2 p.m. start on Wednesday, April 8.
Tym Brown can be reached at [email protected] and followed on X @tym_brown1.
