Softball Advances to MASCAC Tournament Championship Round

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- Top-seeded Bridgewater State University advanced to the championship round of the 2014 Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) Softball Tournament as the Bears blanked #3 Worcester State University, 6-0, in the winner's bracket final on Saturday afternoon at Alumni Park.

The host Bears improve to 28-12 on the season with the win and will take on #5 Framingham State in the tournament championship round on Sunday at 11:00 AM.  The Rams eliminated Worcester with an 8-2 victory in the loser's bracket final.

BSU right-hander Amber White (Middleboro, Mass.) hurled her second straight shutout of the tournament and school-record 15th of the season to improve to 21-3 on the season.  White scattered three hits, walked three and fanned four as she lowered her ERA to an impressive 0.39.

Megan Rich (Chelmsford, Mass.) picked up the loss in the circle for Worcester.  Rich (7-8) allowed six runs on 11 hits with two walks and five strikeouts.  Three of the six runs were unearned as the Lancers committed four errors.

The Bears jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first as Jocelyn Bettencourt (Plymouth, Mass.) tripled to deep right with one out and later scored on an infield throwing error.

The score remained 1-0 until the fifth when Bridgewater pushed across two more runs thanks in large part to a pair of Worcester errors.

Kelly McCarthy (Burlington, Mass.) belted her first collegiate home run to lead off the bottom of the sixth to increase the BSU advantage to 4-0.  Courtney Leddy (Saugus, Mass.) and Jill Welch (Hubbardston, Mass.) followed with back-to-back hits, and Bettencourt lined a two-run single to center to cap off the three-run frame.

Bettencourt and McCarthy paced the Bears' offense as they both went 3-for-3 at the plate. Bettencourt finished with two runs and two RBI.

Mackenzie Crumley (Fall River, Mass.) had two hits in three at bats to lead the way for the Lancers.

Notes: Bridgewater has won the MASCAC Tournament eight times (2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2013) since the inaugural tournament of 2001.  Framingham captured the MASCAC title in 2007.