After a tough start in its first games in the Mid-American Conference against Kent State, the Massachusetts softball team earned its first MAC win in program history against Toledo on Friday, in an eventful 7-6 contest at Boston College.
Despite a victory in the first of Friday’s games, the Minutewomen (8-17, 1-5 MAC) fell to the Rockets (7-20, 4-2 MAC) with a score of 9-1 in six innings in their second game and ended the weekend with a 16-3 loss in five innings on Saturday morning.
The first of two matchups on Friday ended with a walk-off home run from Odyssey Torres, her second of the game and third of the season.
As the game entered a 6-6 tie in the bottom of the seventh, UMass took a small-ball approach as Brooke Musch attempted to bunt but was thrown out at first base by pitcher Mady Yackee. Torres, who went 5-for-6 at the plate between both of Friday’s games, ended the matchup with a solo blast to left field to claim the Minutewomen’s first-ever MAC win.
That wasn’t the only time the Los Angeles native broke a tie that game, as she had a grand slam in the second inning, too. After a single from Grace Colucci, an infield error that allowed Eliana Raposo to reach first and a walk for Riain Keefe, Torres cleared the bases with a shot to deep left field, giving UMass a 5-1 lead.
The Minutewomen held on to that lead until the fourth inning when Toledo made it a one-run game, eventually tying the game 6-6 in the fifth inning when a speedy Reis Sjoholm scored from first base off a single to left field from Aubrey Hensley.
After being unable to break the tie in the sixth inning, the Rockets tried to use aggressive base running to get the lead when pinch runner Eliza Maloney attempted to steal second base. UMass catcher Olivia Packard fired the ball down to Torres, who tagged Maloney out for the first out of the inning and shut down the late push from Toledo.
The Minutewomen opened the scoring in the first inning with a single from Riley Kairer that drove in Torres from second base. Lily Woodworth had a double to right center in the third inning, and Lillie Scheivert and Colucci both had two hits in the game.
Hannah Streicher pitched all seven innings and had two strikeouts and zero walks. This is the second complete game she has pitched this season without walking any batters.
The third and final matchup between the teams did not end well for UMass, as Toledo capitalized on its dominant performance in Friday’s second game to score nine runs in the second inning on Saturday.
Limited to only four hits to Toledo’s 18, the Minutewomen struggled to build momentum at the plate for most of the game. They showed some life in the fifth inning when Raposo hit a home run to left field for UMass’ second run of the game. Musch, who went 2-for-2 on Saturday, then tripled down the left field line and scored the third run for the Minutewomen on a wild pitch.
The Rockets did the most damage in the second inning. Jenna Bloomfield opened the inning with her first home run of the season to tie the game 1-1. The inning had a total of seven hits, including three doubles in a row from Eli Enriquez, Samantha Bolding and Audrey Miller. Although the offense was strong for the Rockets, UMass also had three errors in the second and six across the game, while Toledo had none.
The second Friday contest against the Rockets, a 3:30 p.m. start, went differently than the first, with a more successful late push from Toledo, which scored eight runs across the fifth and sixth innings.
After only one run scored for the Rockets in the first four innings, a double from Payton Abiley opened the fifth. Three straight singles from Enriquez, Bolding and Miller led to three scored runs for Toledo. The fifth and final hit of the inning was a single from Payton Pudlowski, which scored another run and put the Rockets up 5-0.
The sixth inning began the same way as the fifth, with a double from Abiley and a double to left center from Miller, who drove in two runs for Toledo. Two more singles from Pudlowski and Alexis Shepherd brought in the final two runs for the Rockets to make the score 9-0 heading to the bottom of the seventh.
The Minutewomen broke through the scoring in the bottom of the seventh inning with a double to right center from Torres to start the inning. A wild pitch allowed her to advance to third and a sacrifice fly to center from Scheivert brought in Torres for the only run for UMass.
The Minutewomen attempted to mirror their first contest by scoring in the first inning when Musch stole second and advanced to third on a wild pitch with one out. Torres followed with an infield single and then advanced to second base. With two runners in scoring position, Scheivert struck out and Kairer popped up to shortstop to end the first inning without any runs.
The third inning had another scoring opportunity for UMass, beginning with a single to the right side from Keefe. A similar hit from Torres allowed Keefe to advance to third and Torres to get to second, but a fly ball to right field from Scheivert halted its momentum in what was a 1-0 game.
The Minutewomen take a break from MAC play and return to Amherst as they face UMass Lowell on March 24 for their home opener. First pitch is at 2 p.m. and will be streamed on ESPN+.
Madison Keddy can be reached at [email protected].
