Umpire Calls Give Softball Game to St. Joseph's

Two runs given up by the Coast Guard Academy due to pitches declared illegal were enough for Friday's softball game to go to St. Joseph's College of Maine. The following information was provided by the Coast Guard Academy Athletic Department:

For the second straight game, the umpires were the story as sixth-seeded St. Joseph’s College of Maine defeated second-seeded Coast Guard, 4-3, in game eight at the Providence Regional of the 2011 NCAA Div. III Softball Championship played at Rhode Island College’s Dayna A. Bazar Softball Complex.

Illegal pitches against Coast Guard junior All-American Hayley Feindel turned what should have been an outstanding game into yet another farce. Feindel, who was called for just six illegal pitches in 38 regular season games, was called for 23 on Thursday and 11 more on Friday costing the Bears two runs.

The umpires or an NCAA representative were not available for questions regarding the lack of illegal pitches called during the regular season and the enforcement of the rule at the regional.

The Monks (37-8) will face Eastern Connecticut in a battle of the only unbeaten teams left at the regional on Saturday, May 14 (2 p.m.). The Bears (37-3) will face Worcester State in an elimination game tomorrow afternoon at noon.

St. Joseph’s senior right fielder Danyelle Shufelt led off the bottom of the first by striking out and reaching on an error, was sacrificed to second, then moved over to third and eventually home for the game’s first run on two illegal pitches by Feindel.

In the second, junior designated player Maria Labbe walked with two out, moved to second on an illegal pitch and then scored on classmate left fielder Katelyn Call’s RBI double to center field. Call was awarded third and then home on two additional illegal pitches to give the Monks a 3-0 lead.

The Monks continued to add to their lead in the third inning. Senior center fielder Emily Leverone doubled to left field and moved over to third on an illegal pitch. Freshman catcher Jill Howard singled to center field to bring in Leverone and stake St. Joseph’s to a 4-0 lead.

Freshman shortstop Lindsay Moore led off the fourth with an opposite field double to right field. Coast Guard sophomore Stacia Sarwinski went to a slide but couldn’t come up with the catch despite the valiant effort. Moore was sacrificed to third, but Feindel picked up a pair of strikeouts to close out the threat.

Coast Guard mounted a comeback bid in the top of the fifth as sophomore left fielder Megan Cook hit a flare out to center field and classmate designated player Catherine Walker singled to left field to put runners on first and second with nobody out. After a flyout, junior second baseman Jamie Kim lined a single to center field to load the bases. St. Joseph freshman pitcher Rae-Marie Copan induced another flyout, but junior first baseman Maddie Buchert crushed a bases-clearing double to the gap in left center field to pull the Bears within a run, 4-3.

After the rocky fifth, SJC turned to junior reliever Maddie Kluna for the sixth. However, Coast Guard kept up the pressure as sophomore third baseman Holli Bastinck reached on an infield single to shortstop. Sarwinski and Cook both laid down sacrifice bunt attempts and reached on consecutive errors by the Monks to load the bases.

The Monks got three quick outs to get out of the jam, highlighted by a diving stop by freshman second baseman Connie Grovo, who got up and cut down the potential tying run at the plate for the second out.

Copan earned the win (8-3), while Kluna picked up the save (4). Copan allowed three runs on five hits. Kluna did not allow a run in two innings of work.

Feindel (36-3) allowed four runs, three of which were earned, on four hits. She had 11 strikeouts.

For the Bears, Buchert went 1-for-3 and drove in all three of Coast Guard’s runs. For the Monks, Call went 1-for-2 with a run and an RBI.