The Massachusetts softball team lost a weekend series in its first-ever matchup against Akron. If not for a walk-off grand slam by Brooke Musch in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader, the Zips (26-21, 17-4 Mid-American) would’ve swept the Minutewomen (16-26, 7-14 MAC). UMass won that game 5-4, but dropped the second game of the day 2-0, losing the series after falling 3-2 to Akron on Friday.
Trailing 4-1 and down to their final out, Grace Colucci came up as the eighth hitter in the Minutewomen’s lineup. The junior dribbled a soft grounder up the middle and beat the throw from Zips second baseman Brooke Sivek for a single. Angie Rama kept the last-breath rally alive with another infield single, this time to the left side. Riain Keefe kept up the momentum as she stepped in representing the tying run and made it to the plate with a walk.
Musch dug into the left batter’s box with the game in her hands and with full confidence. The sophomore outfielder hammered the first pitch she saw to opposite field, then pumped her fists in the air as she rounded first, seeing the ball crash next to the bleachers in left. Musch was mobbed at the plate as the UMass bench cleared to congratulate her on completing a nearly impossible comeback.
This blast made for the Minutewomen’s only multi-run inning of the series as they got shut out just a few hours later. Madie Jamrog dominated her second outing of the weekend for the Zips, pitching a complete game while allowing five hits and only one walk. The junior also collected just one strikeout, but set up an errorless day for the Akron defense by producing 10 flyouts and seven groundouts.
Hannah Streicher worked around 10 hits to complete seven innings of work, but lost her second straight pitcher’s duel with Jamrog as the Zips punched through with movement on the basepaths. With runners on the corners and two outs in the top of the fifth, a fake steal by Sophia Wygast drew a throw to second from Olivia Packard. This allowed Meagan Lee to dash home even as Lily Woodworth cut off the throw, recognizing the fake.
Akron added an insurance run in the top of the seventh with a pair of singles interceded by a sacrifice bunt. UMass’ prior late-game magic wasn’t replicable, as Jamrog set down a pair of batters smoothly following a Tiegan Walsh single.
The Michigan native finished off her second win of the series herself after passing the final 1.2 innings off to Macy Walters on Friday. The reliever’s fiery fastball came with a lack of control, which put the winning run on base with a pair of walks in the bottom of the seventh for the Minutewomen.
A flyout and strikeout preceded the free passes, bringing up Eliana Raposo with two down and two on. The leftfielder hit a bounding ball to shortstop Delaney Jenkinson as she ranged to her right to snag the ball and fired to third for an unorthodox game-ending force out.
UMass curbed its offensive output in this game with a major misstep on the basepaths in the fifth inning. Keefe led off second with Colucci on third and with no outs, as Walsh had just crossed the plate to bring the Minutewomen’s deficit to 3-2. The Zips brought the infield in, and Musch played into their hand, grounding a ball to shortstop.
Jenkinson caught Colucci going home, but the UMass wasn’t done running yet. Musch turned for second, attempting to get caught in a rundown while Keefe tried to score. Though Akron threw across the diamond, Sivek remained unfooled as she fired back to the plate to cut down a second runner. One lineout later, four runners in scoring position officially produced just one run for the Minutewomen.
“There’s a difference between being aggressive and being reckless, and I thought we were reckless,” head coach Danielle Henderson said. “That could be the decision in close games like that. We have to be a little bit smarter.”
The Zips brought in their winning run in the top of the fifth with a jam shot to center by Lily Sullivan. With Lee on second and Wygast on first, the Indiana native flared a pitch barely into the outfield grass, missing Musch’s mitt by mere inches on a dive. Lee came around to score as she ran on contact with two outs, giving Akron the last insurance run it’d need.
UMass travels to play Bowling Green next weekend, leading off with a doubleheader on Friday, April 24, with games at 1 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. The Minutewomen close their series against the Falcons with a third game on April 25 at 1 p.m. Those games will be available to watch live on ESPN+.
Tym Brown can be reached at [email protected] and followed on X @tym_brown1.
