Worcester, Mass. - The Worcester State Lancers and the Mass Maritime Buccaneers started their playoff run this afternoon on the campus of Worcester State University for the first round of the MASCAC Tournament. After a clean sweep this past Saturday for the Lancers to grab the #3 seed in the tournament over the #6 Mass Maritime, the game was set to be a grudge match to advance into the next round.
Mass Maritime got on the scoreboard right away in the top of the first, with a two-out rally. A single by first year Kelsey Booker (Corning, N.Y.) was followed by a passed ball that advanced her to second. A base hit to right field off the bat of first year Ab'c'de Patane (La Mesa, Cali.) plated the first run of the game to put the Bucs up 1-0.
Some quality pitching on both sides yielded no runs until the bottom of the third, when the Lancers finally broke through. With two outs, senior Jacqui Schwalm (Billerica, Mass.) singled to get a runner on, and sophomore Emma Lanpher (Charlton, Mass.) reached on an error a batter later. The following batter, first year Bella Gasbarro (Leominster, Mass.) came through with a clutch base hit that brought around Schwalm to tie the game at one. The Lancers were not yet done, adding another run on a sophomore Abigail Koziol (Lunenburg, Mass.) base hit to make it 2-1 entering the top of the fourth.
With the lead in tow for the first time, Worcester State pulled starting pitcher senior Jen Thorburn (Groton, Mass.). Thorburn had a quality day giving up just the lone run in the first inning, which went unearned thanks to a late inning error, whilst striking out four over three innings of work. Junior Emily Bartlett (Lowell, Mass.) came in to relieve her, and got off to a great start to her postseason, striking out eight in her first three innings of work.
In the bottom of the sixth, the Lancers scored a crucial insurance run. After a pair of Buccaneer errors, Worcester State had runners on first and third for first year Morgan Keefe (Dracut, Mass.), who drove in Gasbarro to extend the Lancer lead to 3-1. Senior Rachel Sinclair (Westminster, Mass.) brought in first year Carisa Andrews (Medford, Mass.), who had come in earlier in the inning as a pinch runner for Koziol, on a base hit to left field to push the score to 4-1. The score would become 5-1 during the next at bat, when first year Bailey Tamarro (Fitchburg, Mass.) laced a single to center to bring home Keefe. An RBI groundout from Jayden Kelly (Tyngsboro, Mass.) brought the score to 6-1, where it remained after a shutdown top of the seventh from Bartlett, who added her ninth and tenth strikeouts for good measure.
With the victory, Worcester State will travel to take on the second-seeded Bears of Bridgewater State at 3:00 p.m. on Friday. Mass Maritime's season comes to an end, a 2023 campaign in which their record is finalized at 17-20.