Nashua, NH - During day two action of the 2010 GNAC Softball
Championship Tournament the top three teams remained in the hunt
for the title. The top seeded Rivier College Raiders survived a 7th
inning come back from Emerson College, winning 5-4, to remain
the only undefeated team in the double elimnation tournament.
Second seeded St. Joseph's College of Maine remains in the hunt
after playing two games on Saturday, taking down Norwich
University 14-5 and Simmons College 11-3. The loss
by third seeded Emerson College drops the Lions to the losers
bracket where they will face the Monks of St. Joseph's on Sunday
morning at 10:00 AM.
Saturday -
April 24, 2010 Game Recaps
Game
7
St. Joseph's College - 14
Norwich University - 5
In the first losers bracket elimination game of the day, it was
the second seeded Monks of St. Joseph's College-Maine who grabbed
the victory and sent the 8th seeded Norwich University Cadets home
with a score of 14-5 in 5 innings. The Cadets committed 7 errors on
the day, allowing 9 unearned runs to cross the plate, which was
more than enough support for starting pitcher Kiera Walsh (Benton,
ME) to go the distance and pick up the win for the Monks.
St. Joseph's got thing going in the top of the first inning when
leadoff hitter Anna Willis (Gorham, ME) reached first and was
awarded second on a throwing error by Norwich third baseman Whitney
Grennon (Franklin, VT). Starting pitcher Mackenzie Pratt (Hyde
Park, VT) made quick work of the next two batter as she struck out
one and induced a groundball back to herself for the second out,
but Monks cleanup hitter Liddy van der Linden (Worcester, MA) swung
for the fences and connected for a homerun to plate two runs and
give the monks the early 2-0 advantage.
The second inning didn't get any better for the Cadets as two
errors by shortstop Christine Clark (Weymouth, MA), accompanied by
a walk and 3 hits brought five more Monk runs across the plate for
the 7-0 lead after two. The Monks would add two more runs in the
top of the third on two more Cadet errors to push the lead to 9-0.
The Cadets responded in the bottom of the third with 4 runs of
their own to cut the lead to 9-4. First baseman Kelsey Buker
(Morrisville, VT) got on with a walk to start the inning and center
fielder Seana Ellsworth (Everett, MA) drove her to third with a
double. After another walk, the bases were loaded for catcher
Marley Balasco (Barrington, RI), who connected for a single to
plate the cadets first run. With the bases still loaded, second
baseman Lindsay Carey (Colchester, VT) hit a groundball to first
base where Alyssa Dunn (Standish, ME) fired home to get the force
out, but in trying to turn the double play back to first, catcher
Ellen Neff (Chester, VT) threw the ball away and allowed 2 more
runs to score and Carey to end up on third. The Cadets would add
run number four on a double by designated hitter Jessalyn Sweeney
(Stanfordville, NY).
The Monks wasted no time in getting those runs back as Norwich
brought in Buker from first base to be the new pitcher in the top
of the fourth inning and the Monks jumped all over her from the
start. A single, 2 walks and a hit batter to start things off
brought home the first run of the inning, followed by two singles
to plate the other three which brought St. Joseph's lead back to 9
runs heading into the fifth inning. Each team would plate one run
in the fifth inning and the game would end with St. Joseph's on top
14-5.
Neff and van der Linden both went 3 for 4 for a combined 5 RBI's
for the Monks while right fielder Danyelle Shufelt (Sutton, VT)
went 2 for 4 with 3 RBI's of her own. Pitcher Kiera Walsh went all
five innings, striking out 2, surrendering 5 hits and 4 walks and 2
earned runs.
Designated hitter Jessalyn Sweeney was the only Cadet to get
multiple hits in the game with a 2 for 3 effort with 1 RBI, but
center fielder Seana Ellsworth did go 1 for 1 with a sacrifice fly
and one RBI. Starting pitcher Mackenzie Pratt took the loss,
despite not giving up a single earned run on the day. She allowed 6
hits and 1 walk along with 2 strikeouts in her three innings of
work.
Norwich ends their season with a 13-24 overall record and a 9-15
GNAC conference record, while St. Joseph's improves to 29-9
overall. St. Joseph's will take on the winner of game 8 between
Simmons College and St. Joseph College of Connecticut, who play at
12:00 PM, today at 4:00 PM. The winner of that game will move on to
the semifinals on the losers bracket side of the tournament on
Sunday morning at 10:00 AM.
Game
8
Simmons College - 10
St. Joseph College (CT) - 1
Simmons College will move on in the GNAC softball tournament
after defeating Saint Joseph (CT) 10-1 in 5 innings. Simmons got
another stellar start out of junior Courteney Collier (Bolton, MA)
as she went 5 innings where she only allowed 1 run on 4 hits and
struck out 5 batters. Collier helped herself out by going 2-3 at
the dish with an RBI and scored 2 runs.
The Jays sent freshman Emily Hummel (Hebron, CT) to the mound to
keep their season going, where she started out well by getting the
Sharks to go 1-2-3 in the first inning. Hummel got into trouble in
the second inning by hitting Leah Derderian (Boylston, MA) who was
able to advance to second on a sac bunt from Ashley Wheeler
(Nashua, NH). Later in the inning Hummel gave up back to back
doubles that scored two runs in the inning. The Jays responded with
a couple hits of their own that put runners at 2nd and 3rd, but
failed to get them in as Collier got Erin Stocking (Meriden, CT) to
ground out to 2nd base that got the Sharks out of the jam.
The Sharks kept the offense rolling as they put 3 more runs on
the board that knocked Hummel out of the game. Kristin Parente
(Burlington, MA) came in and got Ari King (Westford, MA) to ground
out to 3rd to end the inning. The Jays put the pressure on the Jays
defense in the 3rd inning as they loaded to the bases, but only
managed to get one run in thanks to a base hit by Hummel.
The Sharks offense stayed hot as they added 3 more in the 4th
and sealed the game with a run in the top of the 5th inning.
Collier didn't allow another base runner as she got the Jays out in
order in the 4th and 5th to end the game.
The Jays end their solid season with a 24-17 record on the year.
The Sharks will move on where they will take on the 2nd seeded St.
Joseph's (ME) Monks at 4:00 PM where the winner will play the loser
of the Rivier/Emerson game.
Game
9
Rivier College - 5
Emerson College - 4
It took an extra inning, but the Raiders managed to narrowly
escape losing in today's GNAC Softball Tournament game against
Emerson College. Rivier, who due to NCAA rules was the visiting
team on their own filed, had a 4-1 advantage going into the bottom
of the seventh inning, but couldn't hold the lead as four straight
hits to start things off brought Emerson roaring back to tie the
game at 4.
The game started as a pitcher's duel as Rivier's Monica
White (Augusta, ME) and Emerson's Kelsey Tuthill
(Middlefield, CT) kept the game scoreless through 4 innings. In
those four innings, Tuthill gave up 3 scattered hits and 1 walk,
while White sat down 12 straight batters with 9 strikeouts for the
Raiders. The Raiders finally broke through in the fifth inning when
senior Brenna Campbell (Nashua, NH) hit a single
into center field with one out, White followed that up with a
double to left field that drove Campbell to third. Freshman
Taylor Cournoyer (Mansfield, MA) came through
clutch again for the Raiders as she laced a single to left-center
to plate both runners. After a pop out and two walks the raiders
had the bases loaded with 2 outs, but couldn't get any more runs as
senior Jess Mellen (Rockland, MA) grounded out to
third to end the inning. The Lions then came through in the bottom
of the inning as Nikki Battaglia (Freehold, NJ) picked up the first
hit of the game for Emerson with 1 out. Two batters later,
Battaglia was driven home on a single to left field by second
baseman Brittany Martin (Las Vegas, NV) to cut the Rivier lead to
1.
Both teams got through the sixth without and runs across, but in
the seventh the Raider bats came alive again. Cournoyer led off the
inning with a single to left field and advanced to second on
sacrifice by freshman Katie Bachinski (Northfield, MA).
Amanda Ryan (W. Bridgewater, MA) stepped to the plate and
delivered a ground ball to shortstop Kendal Peiguss (Suquamish,
WA), who couldn't field the ball cleanly and allowed both Ryan to
get to first and Cournoyer to reach third. A wild pitch from relief
pitcher Sara Murray (Auburn, NH) allowed Cournoyer to score and
Ryan to move to second, Ryan later scored after a Marissa
Mercier (N. Smithfield, RI) single and ground out by
Mellen.
The Raiders took the 4-1 advantage into the bottom of the
inning, but White couldn't find her target with the same accuracy
she had shown earlier in the game. The Lions first four batters of
the inning all got hits, with the dagger coming from Martin, who
hit a single to left-center field to drive in two runs to tie up
the game. A base running error kept Martin at first base while the
other runners all came around to score, but she advanced to second
two pitches later on a pass ball. However, a ground out to
shortstop by catcher Sierra Wood led to another Martin base running
error as she first retreated to second base, but took off for third
on the throw. Raiders first baseman Marissa Mercier fired the ball
back across the diamond to get Martin in a rundown, where she was
eventually tagged out by Cournoyer. The Double play, followed by
White's 13th strikeout ended the inning for the Lions and the game
headed into extra frames.
In the extra inning Danielle Magnant (Franklin,
VT) was the runner placed on second base for the Raiders
and after being advanced on an error by the third baseman, she was
driven home on a sacrifice fly by pitcher Monica White to give the
Raiders the 5-4 lead and another chance to win the game. The Lions
placed Jilisa Rawding on second to start the inning, but White was
back on her game as she got the batters out in order and added her
14th strikeout of the game.
With the win the Raiders (32-2) advance to the tournament finals
on Sunday at 12:00 PM where they will wait for the winner of the
losers bracket game between Emerson and the winner of tonight's St.
Joseph's (ME) and Simmons game. That game will take place at 10:00
AM on Sunday.
Game
10
St. Joseph's College (ME) - 11
Simmons College - 3
St. Joseph's College (ME) took down Simmons College in the
elimination round of the GNAC tournament on Saturday afternoon
11-3. The Monks of St. Joseph's drew first blood in the
top of the first inning when Emily Leverone (Hampton, NH) sent a
Courteney Collier (Bolton, MA) pitch over the center field wall to
give the Monks an early 1-0 lead. Simmons answered in the
bottom of the frame as Emily Nalband (Litchfield, CT) picked up a
base hit and was followed by doubles by Annie Thompson (Pacific
Palisades, CA) and Leah Derderian (Boylston, MA) that plated 2
runs, giving Simmons the 2-1 lead after 1 inning. Simmons put
another run on the board in the 2nd as Nalband roped a
double into the right center gap that scored Ari King (Westford,
MA) after the freshman ripped a two out single.
The Monks offense showed their power in the fifth inning when
Leverone, Liddy van der Linden ((Worcester, MA), and Alyssa Dunn
(Standish, ME) hit back-to-back-to-back home runs, all with two
outs, to take a 6-3 lead. St. Joseph's would tack on
four more runs in the inning to extend their lead to 10-3, which
would be all they needed as Monks' reliever Madylan Kluna
(Standish, ME), who came in the 4th inning with 2 outs,
shut down the Sharks offense, giving up one hit and striking out 4
batters. The Monks added one more run in the top of the
seventh to finish the 11-3 win over the Sharks.
The St. Joseph's College of Maine will play Emerson
College in the losers bracket final at 10:00 AM. The winner
will move on to play #1 seed and host Rivier College in the finals
at 12:00 PM.
