Sports

Owls take two in convincing fashion

Catcher Amanda Flower high fives Julia Sullivan after an outstanding pitching performance in her first collegiate start. Flower had a big day at the plate with six hits and seven RBI. (Photo by Mickey Curtis)

Catcher Amanda Flower high fives Julia Sullivan after an outstanding pitching performance in her first collegiate start. Flower had a big day at the plate with six hits and seven RBI. (Photo by Mickey Curtis)

CLERMONT, Fla. – The Westfield State University softball team notched its first two victories of the young 2014 season on Monday morning, March 10. The Owls trounced Franciscan University of Stuebenville, Ohio, 24-2, and handled Monmouth College of Illinois, 6-1.
In the first game, Westfield crossed the plate 18 times in the third inning to take a 20-0 lead. The Owls only collected 13 hits in the five-inning rout but they drew 17 walks and took advantage of five Franciscan errors.
Amanda Flower was the hitting star; the senior catcher was 4 for 5 with seven RBI. She ignited the third-inning explosion with a three-run triple and tacked on a two more RBI later in the inning.
Flower also was 2 for 3 in the second game to finish the day with six hits in eight at bats, along with three runs scored.
Freshman Emma Dunbar was 2 for 2 with four runs scored and three RBI. Winning pitcher Emily Mailloux allowed four hits, no earned runs and a walk. She struck out nine in the five-inning game.
Paced by freshman pitcher Julia Sullivan and a five-run first-inning uprising, Westfield posted an impressive 6-1 victory over Monmouth to avenge a 6-3 setback to the Illinois school last March.
Sullivan mixed her pitches well as she scattered six hits and allowed no earned runs and no walks. The southpaw recorded 21 outs on three strikeouts, nine fly outs and nine ground outs.
Sullivan aided her own cause by going 2 for 3 with a double, two runs scored, and an RBI. Molly Dunbar (2 for 3) and Flower were the other Owls with multiple hits.
Westfield laced four of its eight hits in the first frame. Senior second baseman Breanne Bisceglia blasted an RBI double, Kelsey Carpenter clubbed a sacrifice fly that resulted in a dropped fly ball allowing two runs to score. Sullivan stroked her RBI single in the first inning and the Owls also scored on a wild pitch.
Westfield added a run in the third when Sullivan doubled, advanced to third on a wild pitch, and scored on Emma Dunbar’s single.

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