Softball Advances With 5-0 Shutout of Salem State

WESTFIELD, Mass.  –  Westfield State starting pitcher Katherine Canty (Natick, Mass.) tossed a 3-hit shutout and 1b Sarah Bingham (Reno, Nev.) socked a 2-run homerun to center field as the top seeded Owls blanked #4 Salem State, 5-0 in a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference softball tournament game on Friday afternoon.

With the win, Westfield improves to 27-11-1 on the season, setting a school-record for wins in a season and advancing directly to the winner's bracket semifinal tomorrow at 11:00 a.m.

Salem slips to 14-25 overall and will play in the elimination bracket at 1:00 p.m. tomorrow.

Canty (W, 11-3) needed just 74 pitches in shutting down the Viking bats. She struck out seven and walked none, contributing to the game being completed in a tidy 1:13.  She allowed singles in the fourth, sixth and seventh and never allowed a runner to reach second, as Owls C Christina Ciampa (Rockville, Conn./Vernon-Rockville) threw out Alison Frost attempting to steal second in the sixth.   Jordyn Lummus (Pittsfield, Mass.) tracked down a line smash in the gap in left center to retire Emily Henning to start the sixth inning on the hardest hit ball of the day.

Westfield pushed across two runs in the third inning as Kiana Kalman (Somers, Conn.), making just her eighth start of the year led off with an infield single, was sacrificed to second, and scored on Ciampa's RBI double to right center.   Ciampa scored when Sarah Bingham reached on an error.

Bingham delivered the big hit of the afternoon with a line-drive home run just left of center, after Hannah Wodecki (Southampton, Mass.) reached on a single in the fifth, putting Westfield on to 4-0 and chasing Salem starter Gracie Martineau (Westminster, Mass./Oakmont) (L, 4-9).  

Westfield added another run when Kalman singled in the sixth, and Lummus' single was misplayed, allowing the Kalman to come all the way around to score.

Kalman and Mia Alfonso each had a pair of hits for the Owls.   Alaina Giuliano (Malden, Mass.) had two of the three Salem hits.

Westfield's 27^th win broke the mark set in 2010, when coach Lou Ann Simchak's Owls club was 26-13 and advanced to the MASCAC Championship game.  Wodecki's base hit in the fifth gives her 59 for the season, setting a school record.  She had entered the game tied with Kerin DeGiralamo, who had 58 during the 2010 season.