Saints Send off Seniors with 2-0 Win Over North Park

LEESBURG, Fla. – The Emmanuel College softball team wrapped the 2020 NTC Spring Games with a 2-0 shutout victory over North Park University Friday morning in Leesburg, Fla.

THE BASICS 

Score: 
Emmanuel College, 0; Wittenberg College, 5
Emmanuel College, 2, North Park Univ., 0
Records: 
Emmanuel College Saints (4-6, 0-0 GNAC)
North Park University Vikings (5-5, 0-0 CCIW)
Wittenberg College Tigers (6-2, 0-0 NCAC)
Location: Leesburg, Fla. – Legends Way
Date: Friday, March 13, 2020

HOW IT HAPPENED (vs. Wittenberg)

• The Tigers got on the board in the first inning with an unearned run, which proved to be enough for the victory. Elise Freeland led off the game with a come-backer off the shin of EC first year pitcher Tianna Dawe (Lynn, Mass.) for an infield single and came around to score on an error to account for a 1-0 score.
• The lead stuck as both Dawe and Wittenberg starter Katelyn Niswonger were locked in in the circle, holding their opponent scoreless from the second through the sixth inning.
• Heading into the seventh, the only hit Dawe surrendered came on Freeland's leadoff single but the Tigers got to the first year pitcher in the final frame, connecting on four more hits and taking advantage of an EC miscue to plate four unearned runs to account for the 5-0 final.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• Niswonger went the distance for the shutout victory, allowing just four hits while striking out 10 in the shutout to improve to 2-1 on the year.
• Dawe falls to 2-3 overall, allowing the five runs (0 earned) on five hits and a pair of K's.
• Senior Yuleska Ramirez-Tejeda (Cambridge, Mass.), sophomores Avery Webb (Hollis, N.H.) and Grace Orcutt (Lexington, Mass.) and first year Maegan Amsler (Hanover, Mass.) collected the Emmanuel hits in the defeat.

HOW IT HAPPENED (vs. North Park)

• The Saints got the only run they'd need in the third inning with the help of a senior connection between Kerry Sendrick (Medway, Mass.) and Sarah Hoisl (West Hartford, Conn.). Sendrick hit a sacrifice fly to center to plate Hoisl to give Emmanuel the 1-0 cushion.
• In the sixth, EC doubled its lead to 2-0 on a double-steal by Webb and Ramirez-Tejeda as the senior swiped home for the late insurance run.
• Junior pitcher Megan Long (Greenville, R.I.) made the lead stand, going the distance to earn the win and improve to 2-2 on the season.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• Long scatted just four hits over the 7.0 innings of work for her first career complete-game shutout, striking out three while allowing just two walks in the win.
• Sophomore Maddie Eastman (Methuen, Mass.) was the lone Saint to collect multiple hits in the win going 2-for-3.
• Sophomore Victoria Leyden (Cranston, R.I.) singled in her first collegiate at-bat.
• Hoisl, Ramirez-Tejeda and Sendrick all collected hits in their final game of the 2020 campaign.

OF NOTE

• Prior to the start of the contest, the EC athletic department in collaboration with the North Park softball team honored all nine seniors playing in the game with a brief ceremony to recognize their contributions to both programs.
• Many thanks to EC seniors Sarah Hoisl, Yuleska Ramirez-Tejeda and Kerry Sendrick for their commitment and contributions to the Emmanuel College softball program!