Sports

Coast Guard Academy Ends Softball Season

Bears fall to Rhode Island College in extra innings

The Coast Guard Academy's bid for the NCAA title came to an end on Saturday with a 2-1 loss to Rhode Island College. The following information was provided by the Coast Guard Academy Athletic Department:

Softball: Rhode Island College 2, Coast Guard 1

Second-seeded Coast Guard's NCAA run came to an end in extra innings as fourth-seeded Rhode Island College advanced to the final day of competition with a 2-1, walk-off win in eight innings in game 12 at the Providence Regional of the 2011 NCAA Div. III Softball Championship played at Rhode Island College’s Dayna A. Bazar Softball Complex.

The Anchorwomen (36-12) advance to face St. Joseph’s (Maine) tomorrow in an elimination game (10 a.m.) The Bears (38-4) are eliminated from the tournament and end their season. The winner of tomorrow’s contest will face Eastern Connecticut in the Championship Game (noon).

With one out in the bottom of the eighth, sophomore second baseman Marisa Jandreau lined a single to right field that was misplayed and allowed her to reach third base. Senior shortstop Donielle Mattoon smacked a grounder to first base that was also booted and allowed Jandreau to trot home with the walk-off game-winning run.

Coast Guard took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first as freshman shortstop Devin Fellman led off with a single up the middle. Junior first baseman Maddie Buchert was walked and the pair moved up to scoring position on a wild pitch by RIC senior starter Amanda Berard.

Fellman crossed the plate with the game’s first run as senior catcher Amanda Frederick's ground ball was misplayed. Coast Guard loaded the bases, but Berard got out of the inning without any further damage.

RIC tied the game in the fourth as Panarelli hit a one-out single and advanced to second on a ground out by sophomore right fielder Kristina Gingell. Panarelli then scored on a double to deep center field by junior third baseman Cristina Bailey, knotting the game at 1-1.

RIC threatened to take the lead in the home half of the fifth as freshman left fielder Stacy Pokora double to the left field corner with one away. She moved over to third on a ground out, but was stranded as Coast Guard junior pitcher Hayley Feindel forced an inning-ending grounder.

In the bottom of the sixth, Mattoon hit a flare out to right field to lead off the frame. Panarelli sacrificed her over to second and an illegal pitch once again moved her to third. After a pop out to second, Feindel got Bailey to line out to center field to end the threat.

Berard was masterful in earning her 16th win (16-6). She allowed one unearned run on three hits, while striking out three in eight innings of work. Berard set down 15 straight Bears at one point during the contest.

Feindel (37-4) allowed one earned run on six hits to go along with six strikeouts in 7.1 innings of work. She finished the season with an NCAA Division III single-season record 26 shutouts while leading the nation in wins (37) and strikeouts (457). The 457 strikeouts is second all-time in a single-season in Division III.

The game marked the final game in the magnificent career of All-American catcher Amanda Frederick, who rewrote the Coast Guard offensive record book and hit a huge three-run homer in the first game of the day in a 4-1 win over Worcester State to keep the Bears alive.

Frederick leaves as the Bears all-time leader in in games played (168), hits (224), doubles (52), runs scored (149) and RBI’s (173) and she is second in school-history with 27 home runs.

Find out what's happening in New Londonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here