GATORS POST LATE COMEBACKS TO SWEEP SAINTS
April 12, 2011
BOSTON, Mass. - The Emmanuel College Softball Team led Pine Manor College by multiple runs in both games of a GNAC double-header, before the Gators rallied to top the Saints, 9-8 and 4-3. The two one-run games were played under the lights at Roberto Clemente Field with Pine Manor as the home team on Tuesday night. The pair of losses dropped Emmanuel to 7-18 overall and 3-11 in GNAC play, while the two wins boosted Pine Manor to 7-11 on the season and 7-4 in the league.
The opener featured the Saints roaring out to a five-run lead, scoring two in the first and three more in the top of the second. Junior centerfielder Chelsey Guselli (Methuen, Mass.) singled and scored on an error. Classmate Elyse Turgeon (Dracut, Mass.) hit an RBI single up the middle, which scored Sierra Roccaro (Parlin, N.J.), as the Saints went up 2-0. After singles by Kayla Howard (Belmont, N.H.), Jackie Murray (Saugus, Mass.) and Julia Levins (Uxbridge, Mass.) in the second inning, Guselli doubled. Three runs scored in the frame and the Saints quickly took a 5-0 advantage.
The hosts put up three runs off of two hits and two errors in the bottom of the side to bring the spread to 5-3. Third inning hits by Roccaro and Turgeon led to a 2 RBI double by Heather Hamel (Belchertown, Mass.) and Emmanuel went up 7-2. The Saints tacked on one more run in the 5th, when Roccaro tallied her third hit of the game and Turgeon did the same, with a triple that scored Roccaro.
Emmanuel held a solid 8-2 lead, but Pine Manor rallied in the bottom of the fifth to take the win. The host Gators scored 6 runs off of 4 hits and an error to come from behind and pull off the 9-8 win. Levins went the distance for Emmanuel, fanning 5 of her 32 batters faced and giving up 10 hits and 6 earned runs.
Game two saw the Saints get out to a 3-1 lead through six innings, but the Gators came from behind again to take the win in the bottom of the seventh. Roccaro and Turgeon scored in the fourth and Kelly Lloid (Issaquah, Wash.) hit an RBI single that scored Levins in the fifth to build the 3 runs for the Saints.
Pine Manor scored its 3 runs off of 4 hits in the bottom of the seventh to walk off with another one-run win. Kathryn Copp (Fremont, N.H.) pitched 6 and a third innings for the Saints, taking the loss for Emmanuel.
The Saints will now host back-to-back GNAC double-headers this weekend. Emmanuel will take on Albertus Magnus College on Friday night at 6pm and then Saint Joseph College (CT) on Saturday at noon.