Coach Morin joins 400 club

Rhode Island College has been lucky to have a coach like Maria Morin stay around the team for as long as she has. Over this semester, her efforts have paid off once again, as the Rhode Island College softball team swept Little East Conference foe, UMass Boston, in a doubleheader over the weekend. What made those wins even more special were that they were Morin's 400th and 401st career victories as the head coach.
The Anchorwomen took the field looking to continue their dominance. However, the Beacons had other plans. Rhode Island College sent Jenna Deveines to the mound, where she quickly seated two Beacons. Sue Killilea stepped up to the plate and rattled off a double to keep the inning alive. Then, Maria Nasta got hold of a Deveines pitch and sent it over the fence, giving the Beacons an early 2-0 lead. Instead of losing her composure, Deveines struck out the next batter to end the inning.
Over the next few innings, the Anchorwomen and the Beacons kept each other at bay, and neither team could score. Rhode Island College switched Amanda Berard in for Deveines and Berard kept the Beacons scoreless.
The scoreless streak ended when RIC's Amanda Perry singled, which drove in Allyson Durkin, putting the Anchorwomen within one in the bottom of the fifth inning. The very next pitch, Marisa Jandreau hit a single that scored Kristina Gingell to tie up the game. Kayla Jandreau then flew out to right, recording the first out of the inning. After the Jandreau at bat, Michelle Perrin grounded out to short but, was hit well enough for Perry to score, giving the Anchorwomen a 3-2 lead. Another single by Donielle Mattoon drove in Jandreau, giving RIC a two-run lead.
In the top half of the sixth, UMass Boston had two of their first three batters reach base to have runners at first and second with only one out. Taryn Asta then singled off Berard, scoring the runner from second, cutting the lead to 4-3. However, that is all they could generate, and Coach Morin's 400th career victory was a 4-3 win over the Beacons.
In the second game, Rhode Island College wasted no time and quickly jumped out to a 4-0 lead within the first three innings. Perrin's RBI and an error by the Beacon's defense gave RIC a 2-0 lead after one inning. In the bottom of the third, Chelsi Panarelli and Emily Johnson each had a RBI single to extend the lead to 4-0.
Kyla Puccini took the mound for RIC and was dominate over her 5.2 innings of work. Within those 5.2 innings, Puccini gave up one run on eight hits, leaving the Anchorwomen in a great spot to complete the sweep. Berard then took over for Puccini to finish the final 1.1 innings. Berard gave up two runs on three hits, but it was still good enough to earn the save, as the Anchorwomen defeated the Beacons 4-3 in the night cap, sweeping the doubleheader.
Coming up next for the Anchorwomen is a doubleheader on April 24 starting at 5 p.m. against Western Connecticut State at RIC.