Owls advance to MASCAC Softball Championship Game

WESTFIELD, Mass.  –  #1 seeded Westfield State topped #2 Framingham State, 8-7 in the Owls lone game of the day in the semifinals of the MASCAC Softball tournament, and Westfield advances to host Sunday's championship round at noon.

Westfield (28-11-1) will host Framingham (22-18) at noon Sunday.   Westfield can win the conference title and the league's automatic bid with a win over the Rams.  If Framingham beats the Owls, it would force a winner-take all second game 30 minutes after the conclusion of game 1.

In today's other games, Worcester State eliminated Salem State with a 4-3 win over the Vikings in the 1:00 p.m. elimination game, and in the final game of the day at 3:30, Framingham eliminated Worcester with a 6-3 win to set up Sunday's championship round.

In today's game, Framingham staked themselves to a 2-0 lead over the Owls early, as Gwen Carpenter led of the game on a double that one-hopped the wall in left, and Makayla Rooney worked a 9-pitch at bat to launch to launch a towering 2-run homerun to left center on a 3-2 pitch.

Westfield wasted little time in answering in their half of the first, as Christina Ciampa beat out an infield single and cruised home as Sarah Bingham smashed her second home run in as many days and fourth of the season, with a blast down the left field line to tie the game 2-2.

Framingham netted a single run in the third

The Owls regained the lead in the bottom of the second, loading the bases on three straight singles, and eventually scoring a pair of runs on Jordyn Lummus' base hit up the middle to take a 4-3 lead.

Framingham tied the game at 4-4 on an RBI single from Kelsey McGull in the the fourth.

Westfield again answered in the bottom half of the inning, this time with Lummus singling and Hannah Wodecki powering a titanic shot to left field for a 2-run home run, her extending her school record to nine this season.

Framingham scored three times in the fifth to grab a 7-6 lead.  Carpenter's double to right center scored Hailey Jensen with the go-ahead run.

With two out in the sixth, Westfield's Alyssa Clark reached on an infield single, and Abby Clark followed with an infield single and both Clark's advancing on an error on the play.

Westfield's Janna Jose, who entered the game as a pinch-hitter the inning before, and making just her 8^th at-bat of the season after missing the early portion of the season due to illness, lined a double to left-center field for her first hit of the season to score the Clark sisters and gave Westfield an 8-7 lead.

Westfield's Stephanie Scoville (W, 12-3) worked 1-2-3 innings in the sixth and seventh to send the Owls to the championship game.

Scoville entered in relief in the third and tossed five innings, allowing four runs but just one earned, and striking out three.

Framingham's Ally Moran (L, 12-8) took the loss in relief.