May 9, 2009

BEVERLY, Mass. - Springfield's Angela Atkins (East Haddam, Conn.) turned on a 2-2 offering from Rhode Island College's Jenna Deveines (Lowville, N.Y.) and deposited a two-run walk-off homerun to left field to lift the seventh-seeded Pride past the second-seeded Anchorwomen in NCAA First Round competition in Beverly, Mass. on Saturday. The win, which remarkable evens Springfield's record to 23-23, advances the Pride into a Sunday showdown with Coast Guard at noon. The winner of that game will advance to the sectional finals against Tufts at 2:00 p.m.

The Anchorwomen were first on the board as sophomore Chelsea Panarelli (Shrewsbury, Mass.) hit a leadoff homerun to dead centerfield to give Rhode Island College as 1-0 lead. Springfield knotted the game at 1-1 in the fourth as Bryn Worrilow (North Babylon, N.Y.) doubled to left center, followed by a sacrifice fly to right from Tess Gagliano (Atlantic Highlands, N.J.) to plate a tagging Worrilow from third.

The score would remain tied all the way until the bottom of the seventh, where the Pride would once again provide last-inning heroics. Just like teammate Amanda Novak (Cos Cob, Conn.) did against Endicott earlier in the day, Angela Atkins drove a homerun to left field to lead the Pride to the victory. Gagliano singled to centerfield to get the rally started, followed by consecutive sacrifice bunts to put Gagliano on third with two outs. The move, which seemed to be a gamble at the time due to the fact that Springfield had just five hits on the day and was now banking on one in the seventh, came through in the biggest of ways as Atkins connected on the two-run walk-off round-tripper.

The win evens the Springfield record to 23-23 overall, while Rhode Island College ends its campaign with an impressive 42-7 ledger. The Pride, who are seeded seventh in the tournament, advance on to meet Coast Guard at 12:00 noon for the right to play Tufts University in the sectional finals.