Wenham, Mass. - The sixth seeded Johnson and Wales Wildcats used a four run seventh inning to walk off with a win and eliminate the top seeded Emerson College Lions 5-4 in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference softball tournament. Sophomore right fielder Heather Imperatore (Westerly, RI) hit a two out, three run triple to the left centerfield gap, scoring the winning run. The Wildcats advance to the 4:00pm game against the number four seed St. Joseph's Connecticut, while the Lions finish their season 26-12.
The Wildcats started off the seventh inning with line drive single to right center off the bat of freshman Taylor Cwalinski (Jackson, N.J.). After a pop out to first, first-year Alyssa Babineau (Fr. Princeton, Mass.) worked a walk off first year Emerson starter Alex Magistro (Fr. Hackettstown, N.J.). With runners on first and second and only one out, the Lions brought in junior Kelsey Tuthill '12 (Middlefield, Conn.) to try and close out the game. After a passed ball advanced the runners to second and third, JWU junior Amy Fish (Oxford, Mass.) hit a ground ball to short and appeared to be safe at first and score a run. After a meeting between the umpires, it was deemed pinch runner Amanda Rae Sullivan (East Granby, Conn.) had interfered with the shortstop attempting to make the play. Sullivan was out, and the runner was sent back to third, making it first and third with two outs and the score still 4-1. Korissa Bailey (Jr. Pelham, N.H.) then singled up the middle, scoring Cwalinski and an outfield error moved Fish to third. After an infield hit by Ellis Kim (So. Glendale, Calif.) loaded the bases, Imperatore tripled to end the game.
Emerson jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead after Tuthill hit a two run triple down the right field line and later scored on an error. The Wildcats were able to get a run back in the bottom half as Bailey scored on an RBI sinlge by Kelsey Dunn (Fr. Silver Spring, Md.). The teams exchanged scoreless innings until the top of the sixth when freshman Bianca Buono (El Cajon, Calif.) drilled a solo home run to straight away centerfield, putting the Lions ahead 4-1.
Bailey, Dunn, and Fish each collected two hits for Johnson and Wales. Cwalinski pitched five and two thirds innings to earn the win for the Wildcats, scattering seven hits and giving up only three earned runs. Tuthill had two hits and two RBI for the Lions and senior Sierra Wood (Torrance, CA) also had two hits and a walk. Tuthill was tagged with the loss after pitching a third of an inning and allowing four hits and three runs.
