SUFFOLK SWEEPS EMMANUEL IN TUESDAY NIGHT TWINBILL
April 19, 2011
BOSTON, Mass. - The Emmanuel College Softball Team was upset by Suffolk University in both games of a cross-town rivalry played at Clemente Field on Tuesday night. The Rams topped the Saints, 9-2 and 11-1, picking up their first Great Northeast Athletic Conference sweep of 2011. Emmanuel now drops to 10-21 overall and 6-14 in GNAC play, while Suffolk improves to 8-22 on the season and 3-11 in the league.
The Saints got behind early in Monday's opener, as the Rams put two runs on the board in the top of the first inning. Emmanuel got hits from Elyse Turgeon (Dracut, Mass. and Kelly Lloid (Issaquah, Wash.) in the 1st and 2nd, but were held scoreless until the bottom of the 3rd. With two outs gone in the frame, junior centerfielder Chelsey Guselli (Methuen, Mass.) singled and Turgeon ripped her third homer of the season, tying the contest at 2-2
The Rams regained their lead in the fourth, when Mandi Thornton (Methuen, Mass.) singled and Liz Galvin (Medway, Mass.) doubled. Lauren Barrett (Milton, Mass.) then hit a 2 RBI single, scoring both base runners and the Rams led, 4-2. The visitors extended their lead by two more runs, before the inning was over and Suffolk held a 6-2 advantage.
Suffolk tacked on two more runs in the fifth and another in the sixth, en route to the 9-2 win. Rookie pitcher Samantha McGilvray (Brighton, Mass.) went the distance for the Rams, giving up 7 hits and 2 earned runs, while fanning three. Freshmen pitchers Julia Levins (Uxbridge, Mass.) and Jennifer Garrity (Lynn, Mass.) shared time in the circle for the Saints. Levins threw six innings, striking out 4 and giving up 7 hits and 2 earned runs. Garrity pitched a hitless inning in relief.
The nightcap featured more of the same from the Rams, as the rain fell harder on the wet turf at Clemente. The visitors powered out to a 2-0 lead off of 3 hits in the second. A pair of hits from Levins and a single by junior 2nd baseman Christina Proulx (Boxborough, Mass.) were the Saints' only hits of the game, with all three occurring in the first and second innings.
The Saints' lone run of the contest came in the bottom of the fourth. Lloid reached on an error and was moved to second by Heather Hamel's (Belchertown, Mass.) sacrifice bunt. Lloid would score on the Rams' second error of the inning and the Saints kept it close, trailing 2-1.
Things seemed to unravel for the Saints in the top of the fifth, as the Rams put five runs on the board, including an RBI single by Lindsey Rogers (Gloucester, Mass.). A four-hit, four-run seventh inning set the spread at 11-1, and Suffolk pulled off the GNAC sweep.
Galvin hurled the 3-hitter for the Rams, fanning four Saints. Junior Kathryn Copp (Fremont, N.H.) suffered the loss for Emmanuel, giving up 4 earned runs, while pitching under rain-soaked conditions.
Emmanuel will travel to Northfield, Vermont to take on Norwich University on Friday afternoon. The re-scheduled GNAC double-header is slated to begin at 3pm.