Just as the weather took a turn for the better, the softball regular season ended. And the warm weather was not enough to heat up the bats of the UMass Boston Beacons.
Little East Conference rival Plymouth State swept a doubleheader from the Beacons, 6-2, 3-1, on Monday, April 28. The losses cemented the Beacons’ final record at 8-17-1, a marked improvement from last season’s record of 4-27. The Panthers of Plymouth State finished with a record of 23-6.
Beacon hitters had no success against PCS’s Kim Jeffs, who allowed only one hit, a Stacey Peterson single, in five innings of work. Jeffs, taking advantage of the umpire’s generous strike zone, struck out 11 of 17 batters while surrendering no walks.
Plymouth State scored three runs in the third inning, highlighted by an Adriene Harvey two-run homer. The Panthers tacked on a run in the fourth without even hitting the ball out of the infield. First baseman Kristin Bales led off the inning with a walk, UMB starter Stephanie Poulos recorded the next two outs, but then threw a wild pitch that allowed Bales to score from third base. Plymouth State scored twice more in the fifth inning.
The Beacons were glad to see Rose Eaton relieve Jeffs to start the bottom of the sixth inning. With one out, Kristen Bowes singled to left field and Peterson reached base when the third baseman couldn’t handle the groundball in her direction. Bowes and Peterson ended up on third and second respectively on an Eaton wild pitch. The next batter, Kristen Smoyer, sent a grounder back to Eaton that allowed the Panther pitcher to hold the runners. However, the Beacon’s cleanup hitter, Siobhan Lynch, scorched a double to centerfield, bring in both Bowes and Peterson.
Before the start of the second game, UMB softball coach Gretchen Randall strode to home plate to address the crowd about her two departing seniors, Bowes and pitcher Andrea Spinale. Randall credited both players for being leaders, while adding Bowes provided the team “with comic relief” and that Spinale committed acts of unselfishness for the sake of the team, such as pitching fourteen innings in a single day.
Spinale started the final game and soon got into trouble in the second inning when a miscue by Lynch at first base allowing a Panther runner to score. Spinale then threw several wild pitches that allowed the second runner of the inning to score.
Unfortunately for the Beacons, Jeffs was back to start the second game as well. She was nearly as dominant in the second game as she was in the first, striking out 11 batters while walking no one.
The Beacons, however, did manage to break the string of zeros that Jeffs had going. In the top of the fourth, Peterson singled with one out and then Smoyer smacked a pitch off the wall in left, bringing Peterson all the way around from first.
Lynch then strode to the plate and several pitches later, sent a shot to the shortstop. However, the ball was hit too hard, allowing the shortstop to hold Smoyer at third and then throw the ball to first. The Beacons’ next batter, Alma Medina, then struck out. The Panthers scored a run in the sixth to finish off the scoring.
The team played a first round match up against Rhode Island College on Tuesday, April 29. If victorious, the Beacons will then play over the weekend against a to-be-determined opponent on the campus of Western Connecticut State.
