Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 MANCHESTER, N.H. – The Southern New Hampshire softball team swept UMass Lowell in a Northeast-10 doubleheader Saturday evening in order to claim first place in the Northeast division and host Northeast-10 Championship. The Penmen improve to 29-14 overall and 16-5 in the NE-10, while the River Hawks are now 26-20, and 15-5 in the conference. SNHU's 29 wins are a new single-season program record, eclipsing the 28 victories posted in 2012.
After falling behind in the top of the seventh inning, the Penmen battled back to win 4-3 in walk-off fashion after scoring on a River Hawk's error.
Heading into the final inning, SNHU held a 2-0 lead over UMass Lowell. However, with two outs, the River Hawks scored their first run of the game when Ariana Darcy hit an RBI double to score Ally Greene who singled. Down 2-1, Abby Jamieson followed Darcy with a two-run homer to right field to take the lead at 3-2.
Behind one run with a final chance to take the lead, Kate Stanley (Kingston, Mass.) led-off the inning with a solo home run to center field to tie the game at 3-3. Kelsea Cheney (Abington, Mass.) followed with a walk, and Cristy Jenkins (Hudson, Mass.) reached on a fielder's choice to advance Cheney to second. A Cara Daly (Plainville, Mass.) sacrifice bunt moved the two runners into scoring position, and Nicole Newell (Abington, Mass.) hit a hard groundball to third base, that the River Hawks could not handle, and Cheney scored on the error to win the game in walk-off fashion by a score of 4-3.
SNHU took an early lead in the game in the second inning when Jenkins led-off with a walk and made it around the bases after advancing to second on a wild pitch, and a Jessica Douillette (Concord, N.H.) single to right field knocked her in from second.
The Penmen built on their lead again in the bottom of the fourth when Douillette notched her second hit of the game to reach first base. Holly Eicher (Stoneham, Mass.) followed with a single to advance Natalie Metta (Norwood, Mass.), who pinch ran for Douillette, and an Ali Maloof (Norwood, Mass.) bunt advanced Metta to third. Lindsey Bolduc (Londonderry, N.H.) then hit a sacrifice fly to right field, and Metta scored to boost the lead to 2-0.
Southern New Hampshire held its lead until the final inning.
Maloof earned her 16th win in the circle for the Penmen while striking out 11 and allowing just three runs and seven hits. Hailey Terrien got the loss in the circle for UMass Lowell while giving two runs and three hits.
In the second game of the night, the Penmen scored four fourth inning runs to defeat UMass Lowell by a score of 7-4.
The River Hawks took an early first inning lead when Abby Jamieson hit her third homerun of the series to score two runs.
However, the Penmen answered in the bottom of the inning to cut the lead to 2-1. With two outs in the inning, Stanley got on base after walking, and a Cheney single advanced Stanley to second. Jenkins followed with a long single to right center to score Stanley for the first Penmen run of the game.
Southern New Hampshire gained the lead in the bottom of the third inning when Daly blasted a two-run homer to score Jenkins who reached on a single, and to give SNHU a 3-2 advantage heading into the fourth.
UMass Lowell tied the game up in top of the fourth when Mahoney hit an RBI double to left center to score the equalizer.
The game was not tied for long as SNHU took its largest lead of the game in the bottom of fourth. Katie Caruso (Newton, Mass.) doubled to right field to get things going, and scored on a River Hawks throwing error. Maloof reached on the error and continued around the bases when Eicher singled to left center for the second run of the inning. Stanley knocked out her second home run of the day to center field to score the final two runs of the inning, and to give SNHU a 7-3 lead.
UMass Lowell scored one more run in the top of the sixth when Jamieson made it around the bases on a King RBI.
Dolores Mattice (Schenectady, N.Y.) earned the win in the circle for the Penmen with five strikeouts, giving up five hits, and allowing just three runs.
The Penmen return to action Friday, May 3 as they advance to the semi-final round of the Northeast-10 Championship with a bye. The time of the game will be announced at a later date. Second round action in the NE-10 Championship will commence at Penmen Field on Thursday, May 2
