Emerson softball fell to 0-20 all-time against conference-leading MIT, dropping both games in their doubleheader on April 25.
MIT came out hot in game one, putting up two runs in the first inning, assisted by an error and manufactured with aggressive base running by the Engineers. They continued this electric start, adding two more runs in the second inning to go up 4-0 on the Lions.
Emerson’s defense tightened up in the next three innings, behind four strikeouts by sophomore pitcher Caleigh Sheehan and a diving catch behind home plate by junior infielder Kayla Nuehlen, maintaining the 4-0 score despite Emerson’s struggles at the plate.
MIT reopened the scoring in the sixth, scoring one by stealing home on a wild pitch and advancing a runner to third. This was followed up with an Engineer inside-the-park homerun scoring two, notching the score at 7-0.
Despite sophomore second base and outfielder Riley Caiazza starting the bottom of the sixth off with a stand-up double launched to the right field fence, she got stranded on base after a double play by MIT ended the inning.
MIT kept finding open grass, chalking up two more runs before closing the inning out by a base runner leaving early, with the score 9-0.
Despite getting one base runner on in the bottom of the seventh, MIT quickly closed out the game, shutting out Emerson.
Heading into game two, the Lions came out far more defensively sound behind senior pitcher Jessica Gomez, who threw a three-up, three-down inning, assisted by two plays at shortstop by senior Sam Zannotti. Emerson’s bats did not show up in the bottom of the inning, also going three up, three down.
MIT opened up the inning with a left field single. Caizza got the first out of the inning, catching a popup in foul territory behind first base. Nuehlen threw down to second and caught MIT trying to steal. Despite some great defensive plays, MIT still got on the board with an RBI single to center field.
Down 1-0, Caiazza opened up the bottom of the inning with a tattooed shot up the right field line. Sheehan brought her around with a sacrifice ground out to even the game, 1-1.
In the top of the fourth, with two outs, the Engineers strung together a pair of extra base hits along with a pair of singles to take the lead 3-1.
Despite the better effort from the Lions at the plate with a few hits, some impressive defensive plays by MIT kept the comeback out of reach. Adding to the deficit, MIT had an RBI double in the top of the sixth inning, along with a pair of runs in the top of the seventh, closing the game, 6-1.
With facing the top team in the NEWMAC, head coach Phil McElroy had a really simple message for his team.
“We talked today about not [being] perfect, but to play really aggressive ball, and that was our mindset going into it,” McElroy said.
With only a week left in the regular season and the team still fighting for the playoffs, the Lions keep a core mentality at the forefront of the dugout every game.
“Other teams don’t beat us, we beat us,” Caiazza says. “So, really keeping that mentality of not playing down to other teams, to playing out our level that we know we can play at.”
After a strong start to the season with the Lions leading the conference for a few weeks, some tough competition has dropped the Lions into sixth place in the NEWMAC, competing with Wellesley College and U.S. Coast Guard Academy for the final two playoff spots.
“You’re in that time of the year where everything’s been said, everything’s been done,” McElroy said. “Well, there [are] four more games left in the rest of the season and that weekend, we’re just going to play well.”
To close out the regular season, the team is at Wellesley for a doubleheader on May 2 and home against Wheaton for a senior day doubleheader starting at 1:30 p.m. on May 3.
