Newbury Collects two Non-Conference Wins

BUZZARDS BAY, Mass. --  Freshman Brittany Stracher (Dudley, Mass.) rapped out a pair of hits and drove in five runs as Newbury completed a sweep of a non-league college softball doubleheader from Massachusetts Maritime with a wild 14-13 nightcap victory Wednesday afternoon at Alison Rollins Field, as the Nighthawks used a complete-game three-hitter from freshman Katie O’Hara (Abington, Md.) to notch an 11-2 opening game triumph.

The visiting Nighthawks (9-15) overcame an early 5-0 nightcap deficit with a six-run fourth inning rally that was highlighted by Stracher’s three-run double, as Newbury also plated tallies on RBI singles off the bats of freshmen Catherine O’Connell (Quincy, Mass.) and Sarah Young (Waterloo, N.Y.) in the frame.  The host Buccaneers (2-18) answered back with three in the bottom of the inning to regain an 8-7 advantage, as a run-scoring triple by senior Jess O’Meara (Stoneham, Mass.) and an error gave Massachusetts Maritime the edge.  Stracher’s two-run double, combined with an RBI two-bagger by sophomore Olga Cepeda (Boston, Mass.) and a bases-loaded walk to freshman Jennifer Anderson (Palmer, Mass.), enabled the Nighthawks to take a 12-8 lead in the top of the fifth, but the Buccaneers rallied back again on RBI singles by O’Meara, sophomore Holly McLaughlin (Belmont, Mass.) and freshman Meghan Thibeault (Scituate, Mass.) to close to within 12-11 in the bottom half of the frame.  A Cepeda sacrifice fly and a throwing error gave Newbury two key insurance runs in the seventh, as an RBI single by freshman Janelle Beaulieu (Buzzards Bay, Mass.) and a groundout enabled Massachusetts Maritime to again climb back to within a run, but the Nighthawks got the final out to claim the sweep.

Senior Jessica Jordan (Stoneham, Mass.) collected three of Newbury’s 15 hits in the nightcap triumph, as the Nighthawks received two hits each from O’Connell, O’Hara and Young in support of freshman Rebecca Roach (Charlton, Mass.), who went the distance and fanned six to earn her second win of the season.  O’Meara rapped out four hits and drove in three runs in the nightcap setback for the Buccaneers, who also received a pair of hits and three RBI from Beaulieu as well as three hits and two RBI off the bat of Thibeault.  McLaughlin added two safeties and a pair of RBI as part of a season-high 17-hit second game attack for Massachusetts Maritime, while freshmen Rachel Johnson (South Chatham, Mass.) and Anna Whittemore (Weatogue, Conn.) also recorded a pair of hits for the hosts, as Beaulieu fanned three on the mound.

O’Connell rapped out two hits and drove in four runs in the opening game triumph for Newbury, which scored eight times in its first two at-bats, while O’Hara helped her own cause by collecting three hits and driving in a pair at the plate and fanning five to pick up her fifth win inside the circle.  Senior Katelyn Mark (Quincy, Mass.) and sophomore Ariel Ross (Gales Ferry, Conn.) joined O’Connell with two hits each as part of an 11-hit attack for the visitors in the opener, while Thibeault rapped out an RBI double and McLaughlin added a run-scoring single to account for the lone Buccaneer runs of the first contest.

Massachusetts Maritime hosts Fitchburg State in a MASCAC twinbill on Saturday afternoon at Alison Rollins Field beginning at Noon, while Newbury heads to Cambridge, Mass. tomorrow afternoon for a New England Collegiate Conference doubleheader with Lesley that begins at 3:30 p.m