NECC Softball Championships Day One
BOSTON, Mass. - The inaugural 2009 New England Collegiate Conference Softball Championships held day one of the conference playoffs on the campus of UMass-Boston on Saturday, May 2. The top two seeds of the tournament, Lesley University and Elms College, were upset on day one but Lesley won their second game to stave off elimination while Elms got swept for an early tournament exit.
Game One - Daniel Webster College 2, Lesley University 3
The #1 seed Lynx managed just one hit against Eagles freshman pitcher Samantha Langlois (Raymond, N.H./Raymond), who earned her 14th victory of the season with the complete game. Langlois frustrated the Lesley batters to the tune of 11 strikeouts, but did struggle with command later in the game as she gave up six walks.
The Eagles scored in the third inning after Amy Waller (Berlin, Mass./Tahanto) reached on an error by the shortstop, advance to second on a sacrifice bunt and reached third on a passed ball. With the runner on third, Crystal Champion (Laconia, N.H./Laconia) hit a slow chopper to the mound that she beat out to reach first base safely and bring in the run.
Daniel Webster added a run in the fourth inning on a Champion ground out to shortstop that brought in Lauren Chesnulevich (Hudson, N.H./Alvirne). The Eagles would add a vital third run to their total as Waller tripled to kicked off the top of the seventh and scored later in the inning.
The Lynx rallied in the bottom of the seventh as Gianna Spaziante (Hawthorne, N.Y./Westlake) and Lani Cabral-Pini (Wilmington, Mass./Wilmington) both walked to reach base. Spaziante scored on a wild pitch and Cabral-Pini crossed home plate on a sacrifice fly by Alyson Durben (Stow, Mass./Nashoba Regional). Two runs is all Lesley would manage as they were defeated 3-2.
Despite the loss, Lesley's Alicia Burnett (Gulf Breeze, Fla./Milton) was solid striking out nine batters while scattering 10 hits in the complete game.
Game Two - Mitchell College 4, Elms College 0
Mitchell College freshman Stacey Suplicki (New London, Conn./Saint Bernard) went 3-for-3 with two RBIs as she led the Mariners over the #2 seed Blazers with a 4-0 shutout victory.
Mariners hurler Kristina Torres (Groton, Conn./Fitch) blanked Elms through seven innings, giving up four hits and walking two while striking out nine batters. Torres improved to 8-9 on the season with the victory.
The Mariners scored in the third inning on an RBI single by Nikki Hoxie (Winsted, Conn./The Gilbert School). Hoxie would reach third base with just one out, but Elms' Ani Ramsdell (Gardner, Mass./Gardner) struck out the next two batters to escape the jam.
The score remained 1-0 through the next three innings until Mitchell opened up their lead with a three-run top of the seventh inning. Mariners leadoff hitter Lindsey Donelin (Niantic, Conn./Stonington) beat out a groundball to third for an infield single, stole second, advance to third base on a passed ball and then scored on a wild pitch to put her team up 2-0. Suplicki did her damage in this inning with two-out two-RBI double down the left field line to give Mitchell breathing room going into the bottom of the seventh.
Elms leading hitters were Alison McBride (East Providence, R.I./East Providence) who had two hits and Kerrie Bowden (Chicopee, Mass./Chicopee Comprehensive) and Kelly Callahan (Monson, Mass./Monson) who each tallied a hit.
Game Three - Elms College 0, Lesley University 5
In a match up of the top two seeds in the tournament, the Lynx benefited from the most memorable hit of the day as Lynx senior Sarah Wilson (Lowell, Mass./Lowell) cracked a line drive grand slam homerun to left centerfield in the bottom of the third inning. Wilson finished the game going 2-for-3 with four RBIs and a run scored.
Wilson's opportunity for the bit hit came after Jenna Fralick (Woburn, Mass./Woburn), Cabral-Pini, and Durben each had singles to reach base. The homerun came off of Courtney Hampton (Westfield, Mass./Westfield) who other than that lone mistake, was impressive with four strikeouts.
In her second complete game pitching performance of the day, Lesley's Burnett earned a victory by striking out five and giving up six hits over seven innings.
Elms' Bowden got her second hit of the day, a double down the left field line in the fourth and Marlene DiRaimo (Cranston, R.I./St. Mary Academy) tripled to right field to start off the top of the seventh.
Game Four - Daniel Webster 2, Mitchell College 3 (F - 8 INN)
The lone 1-0 teams from day one of the tournament went into a tie-breaker scenario in the eight inning and despite Daniel Webster gaining a one-run advantage in the top of the eight, Mitchell came right back to score two runs in the bottom half of the frame to earn a dramatic victory.
Tied up 1-1 in the top of the eight, Daniel Webster's Tiana Winter (New Ipswich, N.H./Mascenic) singled to bring in Amanda Wilson (Merrimack, N.H./Merrimack) who had been placed on second base to start the inning.
With the 2-1 deficit, the Mariners wasted no time tying the score on a triple to right centerfield by Liz Roy (Jewett City, Conn./Griswold) that drove in Donelin. The next batter, Sara Krolikowski (Bristol, Conn./Bristol Eastern), walked by forced a rundown as she took off towards second base. Roy raced towards home and scored as the catcher bobbled the throw home to give Mitchell the walk-off victory.
Mitchell's Torres in her second game on the mound, pitched eight innings to earn her second win of the day. Eagles' pitcher Langlois added 12 more strikeouts to her total but took the loss.
Contact:
Rob Palardy
Sports Information Director
Lesley University
617.349.8627 (office)
617.349.8640 (fax)
rpalardy@lesley.edu
