May 8, 2004
Story Courtesy of Scott Dietz, Sports Information Director, Wheaton College
NORTON, MA- Junior Mary Baccash (Evanston, IL) was the star in game six of the NCAA Division III New England Regional Tournament Saturday afternoon, as she launched a two-run walk-off double to left center to lead the second-seeded Williams College softball team to a thrilling 2-1 nine-inning victory over number-four seed Endicott College at Wheaton College's Clark Field.
With the victory, Williams advances to the loser,s bracket championship game this afternoon at 3:00 p.m., where the Ephs will face Western Connecticut State University in an elimination game. Endicott finishes its season with a 29-10-1 record. The Williams-Western winner will then face unbeaten Wheaton in Sunday afternoon's championship game at 12:00 p.m. Williams or Western would have to defeat Wheaton twice in order to capture the regional title.
After eight scoreless innings, Endicott struck first in the top half of the ninth, using two Williams errors, a sacrifice bunt and a wild pitch to take a 1-0 edge. Senior Laura Mangini (Gansevoort, NY/Saratoga Springs) and junior Katie Doherty (Saugus, MA/Saugus) reached on consecutive throwing errors to open the inning. Freshman Nicole Reather (Riverton, UT/Juan Diego) moved the runners over on a sac bunt to third. On the next at-bat, Mangini scored courtesy of the wild pitch.
In the bottom of the ninth, Endicott was all but two outs away from sealing the victory, but the Ephs battled back and found a way, spearheaded by a double down the right field line from junior Liz Gluck (Wappingers Fall, NY). Pinch running for Gluck, sophomore Melissa Vandermyn (Springfield, MA) remained at second following a hard hit infield single by junior Kerri McMahon (Denville, NJ), setting up the Ephs' late-game heroics. Baccash's double carried all the way to the fence, as Vandermyn and McMahon had little difficulty scoring the tying and game-winning runs.
Endicott posed a serious scoring threat back in the top half of the sixth, as the Gulls loaded the bases on a single, defensive miscue and walk with only one out. Williams hurler Clara Hard (Seattle, WA) avoided potential disaster by fanning her next batter followed by inducing a routine groundout to first to keep the game scoreless. Hard was impressive throughout the game's entirety, striking out a tournament-best 11 batters with three walks and five hits allowed. Endicott's Reather took the loss, as she gave up six hits with five strikeouts and one walk.
Gluck went 3-for-4 with two doubles for Williams, while Baccash finished 1-for-4 with the two game-winning RBI. Junior Megan Young (Portland, ME/Portland) was 2-for-4 for the Gulls.
