May 10, 2009

BEVERLY, Mass. - Coast Guard Academy's Amanda Frederick (Lebanon, Ohio) hit a pair of homeruns and drove in four to help the Bears defeat Springfield College, 7-3, Sunday afternoon at the NCAA Beverly, Mass. First Round Championship site held on the campus of Endicott College. The Bears improve to 38-6-1 this season and will face Tufts University in the Regional Finals at 2:00 p.m. Springfield, the No. 7 seed in the region, wraps up its Cinderella run in the NCAA Regional at 23-24 this season.

Springfield got on the board in the first inning on back-to-back homeruns by Aimee Cassella (Southington, Conn.) and Michelle Wlosek (Nutley, N.J.). Frederick would respond with her first homerun of the day in the Coast Guard half of the first for a 2-1 game at the end of the first.

Frederick would put the Bears up for good in her next at bat as she drilled a 0-1 pitch over the fence in centerfield to score Annette Boston (Oceanside, Calif.) and give the Bears the 3-2 lead. Becky Miller (Norco, Calif.) added an RBI single later in the inning for an insurance run.

Springfield scored again in the top of the sixth as Danielle Spiro (South Windsor, Conn.) had an RBI ground out to make it a 4-3 game. Coast Guard would put the game out of reach in their half of the sixth when Frederick drove in her fourth run with a sacrifice fly and Colleen Denny (Clarence, N.Y.) added a two-RBI single for the game's final tally, 7-4.

Coast Guard's Hayley Feindel (River Ridge, La.) picked up her 34th win of the season by striking out 10 batters in seven innings, giving up just three runs (two earned) on four hits and walking three. Frederick led the Bears, going 2-for-3 with four RBI and two runs scored. Denny and Carin Sweeney (Woodbury, Minn.) each went 2-for-4 with Denny driving in a pair.

Samantha Rhodes (Mendon, Mass.) suffered the setback for the Pride, going six innings and giving up seven runs (four earned) on nine hits while striking out three. Cassella and Wlosek combined to go 4-for-5, each driving in a run and scoring one as well. Danielle Spiro (South Windsor, Conn.) picked up the other RBI for Springfield.

Coast Guard now looks ahead to Tufts in the Regional Final matchup at 2:00 p.m. The Jumbos defeated the Bears yesterday, 9-2, in the third game of the day.