Berard no-hitter, Mattoon homerun advances RIC

May 9, 2009

BEVERLY, Mass. - In a pitcher's duel between Rhode Island College's Amanda Berard (Swansea, Mass.) and Emerson College's Kelsey Tuthill (Middlefield, Conn.) the Anchorwomen walked away on top, 1-0, courtesy of a solo homerun by Donielle Mattoon (Coventry, R.I.) in game one of the third day of the Beverly, Mass. NCAA First Round Tournament. RIC (42-6) will move on to face the winner of Endicott College and Springfield College who play in the 12:00 p.m. game today. Emerson closes out its season at 33-11 overall despite the strong pitching efforts of Tuthill.

Neither team produced much offense throughout the game as no one reached base until the bottom of the second inning when Rhode Island College's Laura Kostenblatt (Keene, N.H.) singled through the right side to start the inning. The next batter was hit by a pitch and both runners were sacrificed into scoring position but the Anchorwomen were held scoreless as Tuthill induced a popout to herself to end the threat.

Emerson received its first baserunner of the day when Kayla Jandreau (Plainville, Conn.) dropped a third strike, allowing Jess Silva (Somerset, Mass.) to reach. Megan Kaye (Miami, Fla.) came in to pinch run and was sacrificed over to second, however Berard would not allow her to go any further, forcing a Catie McDonough (North Adams, Mass.) groundout to end the inning.

Both pitchers cruised through the next two innings of play until Mattoon came to bat in the bottom of the fifth. On a 2-2 pitch, Mattoon took the next offering and hammered a solo-homerun over the scoreboard in leftfield to give the Anchorwomen the 1-0 lead. That would be all Berard would need as she cruised through the final two innings, inducing four groundouts, a popout, and striking out the final batter she faced to advance Rhode Island College.

Berard pitched seven innings, giving up no runs, no hits, and striking out seven en route to her 16th win of the season. Mattoon's homerun was the sixth of the season while she went 1-for-2 on the day. Amanda Perry (New Bedford, Mass.), and Kostenblatt picked up the other two hits for RIC.

Kelsey Tuthill was the tough-luck loser as she went six innings, giving up one run on just three hits while also striking out seven. Unfortunately for the Lions, Berard did not allow a baserunner past second base for the entire game as the only runner to reach was Silva in the third inning.

The Anchorwomen will now face the winner of Endicott and Springfield in the final game of the day on Saturday at 4:00 p.m.