WENHAM, Mass. – Second seeded St. Joseph's College rallied from a 4-0 sixth inning deficit with five unearned runs to defeat fifth seed Rivier College and take the championship of the Great Northeast Athletic Conference Softball Tournament hosted by Emerson College at Gordon College.
The winning runs came off the bat of Heather Tripp '13 (Lovell, Maine) who belted a three-run homer to left centerfield with the Monks facing a two out 4-2 deficit.
Rivier took the early lead as Nicole Peacock '14 (Warwick, R.I.) opened the game with a leadoff home run to left field. Following a ground out, Amanda Ryan '12 (West Bridgewater, Mass.) singled. Singles by Amanda Thornton '13 (Hanover, Mass.) and Kirstie Clark '14 (Brentwood, N.H.) scored Ryan.
The Raiders added to the lead with a run in the second as Lauren Beatty '14 (Sherman, Conn.) singled through the right side. A walk to Catherine Roy '14 (Dracut, Mass.) was followed by a Ryan RBI single for a 3-0 lead.
Rivier got its last run in the third inning as Myranda Knight '14 (Anson, Maine) singled home Britnii Dyer '14 (Douglas, Mass.) who had doubled.
Neither team could muster any sustained offense until the Monks batter in the bottom of the sixth. Katelyn Call '13 (Portland, Maine) reached on an error and moved to second as Danyelle Shufelt '13 (Sutton, Vt.) singled to deep short. Connie Grovo '14 (Limington, Maine) then walked to load the bases. After a line drive out to left field, Jill Howard '14 (Rochester, N.H.) had an RBI ground out to shortstop to deliver the Monks' first run. Alyssa Dunn '14 (Standish, Maine) grounded to short, but the throw was wide of the first base bag and all runners were safe as Shufelt scored setting up Tripp's heroics.
St. Joseph's (34-8) will now advance to the NCAA Division III Championship Tournament , while Rivier (26-14) will await word on whether it will advance to the ECAC New England Division III Tournament.
The All-tournament Team:
• Kelsey Dunn, Johnson & Wales University
• Heather Imperatore, Johnson & Wales University
• Shauna Sullivan, St. Joseph College (Conn.)
• Susie Waters, St. Joseph College (Conn.)
• Amanda Ryan, Rivier College
• Catherine Roy, Rivier College
• Mandy Thornton, Rivier College
• Rae-Marie Copan, St. Joseph's College (Maine)
• Emily Leverone, St. Joseph's College (Maine)
• Heather Tripp, St. Joseph's College (Maine)
• Tournament MVP – Maddie Kluna, St. Joseph's College (Maine)
