News

AMHERST, Mass. -- Sara Plourde became the career strikeout leader in Massachusetts softball history as she fanned 16 in a 1-0 no-hit victory over Quinnipiac Wednesday afternoon in the home opener at the UMass Softball Complex.

Plourde surpassed former UMass all-American and Olympian Danielle Henderson with her seventh 'K' of the game which came in the third inning. Plourde, the active career strikeout leader in Division I, now has 1,353 strikeouts which stands in 15th place in NCAA D-1 history.

The senior from Bristol, Conn., improved to 13-8 as the Minutewomen collected their third-consecutive shutout. It also marked her fourth no-hitter on the season and 12th solo overall.

UMass (14-10) got all the scoring it would need from local freshman Quianna Diaz-Patterson. With two outs in the third, the Amherst product went the other way with a double off the wall in left-center that scored junior Teea Rogers from first. For Diaz-Patterson, it was her eighth double and 20th RBI - both team highs.

Plourde fought through a couple of tight spots on the day. In the third, the Bobcats had runners on first and second before Plourde got Jacquie Ristow to go down on strikes for the second time and end the threat. Two frames later, Plourde loaded the bases with a walk and a hit batter before getting Ristow's replacement, Kortney Kresses to go down swinging to retire the side.

UMass had four hits on the day with infield singles from junior Katie Bettencourt and sophomore Lindsey Webster, along with a single through the right side by Plourde, who extended her hitting streak to four games.

Senior Kylie Magill saw her nine-game hitting streak come to an end but did reach base for the 11th-straight outing after being hit in the sixth inning.

Quinnipiac dropped to 13-9 on the season and Heather Schwartzburg moved to 8-3 after a complete-game, 11 strikeout performance.

UMass will return to Atlantic 10 Conference play this weekend when it plays host to Dayton (12-15, 0-2) on Friday at 3 p.m. and Saturday at Noon.