EAST BOSTON, Mass. - The fourth-seeded Simmons College softball team was defeated by number five seed Johnson & Wales University, 9-3, this evening at American Legion Playground in East Boston, Mass. The Sharks fall to 18-14 on the season and will play six seed Emmanuel College tomorrow at 12:15 p.m. at American Legion Playground. Emmanuel was an 8-6 loser to second-seeded Albertus Magnus College tonight. Johnson & Wales defeated Suffolk after beating Simmons to improve its record to 18-13. The Wildcats will play tomorrow at 2:30 p.m. taking on Albertus Magnus College at American Legion Playground.
Junior shortstop Cynthia Proby (Bremerton, Wash.) cracked a ground-rule double to left in the top of the first for Johnson & Wales and later came around to score on an error to put the Wildcats on the board. Simmons took a 2-1 lead with a pair of runs in the second when it loaded the bases following singles from sophomore designated player Emma D'Arpino (Johnston, R.I.) and senior left fielder Jen Field (Windham, Maine) sandwiched around a walk drawn by sophomore right fielder Brianna Rastello (Salem, N.H.). Junior second baseman Mikaela Caracciolo (North Attleboro, Mass.) later followed with a two-out, two-run ground-rule double to right center to give the Sharks the lead.
The Wildcats reclaimed the lead with a three-run third inning. Proby led off the frame with her eighth home run of the season over the fence in left center and junior catcher Kristen Solari (Old Bridge, N.J.) and sophomore first baseman Emily Gorecki (Bremerton, Wash.) followed with a single and an RBI double, respectively. Sophomore center fielder Diana Amendolara (Newtown, Pa.) followed with a single that pushed Gorecki to third, before she scampered home on a throwing error to make it 4-2. Simmons got a run back in the bottom of the inning when senior starting pitcher rung a leadoff single to right center and later came around to score on a two-out triple to center field off the bat of D'Arpino to cut the deficit to 4-3. It was the final run of the night for the Sharks as Johnson & Wales scored twice in the fourth, added a run in the fifth and capped the evening with two runs in the seventh for a 9-3 cushion.
Proby worked a one-out walk in the fourth and raced around to score on a Solari triple for the Wildcats, before scoring on a Gorecki ground out. First year pitcher Jennifer Corona (Middle Island, N.Y.) stung a single to center, before being lifted for sophomore pinch-runner K. Alexis DeMoss (Beckley, W. Va.), who later scored on a single up the middle from first year third baseman Eileen Eads (Portsmouth, R.I.). Solari knocked in two more runs in the seventh to seal the triumph for the visitors.
Corona (14-6) earned the complete-game win for Johnson & Wales, yielding three runs on eight hits and three walks in seven innings, while setting down five batters on strikes. Backhaus was saddled with the loss for Simmons, giving up nine runs (five earned) on 11 hits and three bases on balls, while striking out seven.
Solari was 3-5 with three RBI and two runs scored for the Wildcats, while Proby and Fantasia each finished with a pair of hits. Caracciolo led the Sharks' offense, going 2-4 with two runs batted in and D'Arpino and Field each collected two hits on the night for Simmons.