SOFTBALL TEAM WRAPS SEASON WITH DOUBLE-HEADER AT NORWICH
April 19, 2009
NORTHFIELD, Vt. - The Emmanuel College Softball Team wrapped up the 2009 season on Sunday afternoon with a double-header at Norwich University. The visiting Saints dropped both games of the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC ) twin bill. Norwich edged Emmanuel, 7-5, in the opener and then picked up a 15-5 win in the 5-inning nightcap. With the two wins, Norwich improved to 18-16 overall and 15-6 in the GNAC. The Saints finished up their 2009 campaign with an 11-23 ledger and an 8-16 mark in the conference.
Emmanuel took an early 4-1 lead, scoring four runs off of 2 hits in the first inning of the opener. Junior captain Sarah Palmer-Thompson led off for the Saints and was hit by a pitch. Two Norwich errors put more base-runners on for Emmanuel. Freshman third-baseman Chelsey Guselli (Methuen, Mass.) singled and freshman second baseman Christina Proulx (Boxborough, Mass.) doubled to bring in runs for Emmanuel. Norwich managed to put a run on the board after two hits in the bottom of the first.
The Saints went scoreless over the next three innings, despite a single from Samantha Luther (Carlisle, Mass.) and a double by Elyse Turgeon (Dracut, Mass.). Over the three innings, Norwich tacked on two more runs to bring the total to 3 for the Cadets.
In the top of the fifth, Guselli singled again and was knocked in by Turgeon, giving the Saints' a 5-3 advantage. Emmanuel's defense held the Cadets scoreless in the bottom of the frame and Norwich put the Saints away quickly in the top of the sixth. The Cadets manufactured four runs off of three hits in the bottom of the sixth to take their first lead of the game, 7-5. Norwich retired the top of the Emmanuel order in the seventh to come away with the two-run win.
Game two erupted with both teams putting numerous runs on the board in the early going. Emmanuel began with a two-run first inning, sparked by a single from Palmer-Thomspon. Norwich retaliated with five runs of their own in the bottom of the frame. Emmanuel's Heather Hamel (Belchertown, Mass.) and Kristine Borrelli (Kingston, Mass.) walked to open the second, before Guselli knocked both runners in with her third single of the afternoon. Another multi-run inning for the Cadets gave Norwich an 8-4 lead after two.
The Cadets then tacked on three runs in the third and another four runs in the fourth to cap their scoring at 15 runs on the day. The Saints managed just one more run off a solo homerun by Turgeon in the fifth and Emmanuel went down 15-5 after just five innings played.
Freshman Jesse Hutchins (Sebago, Maine) struck out six batters over her seven and a half innings pitched. Proulx threw three innings for the Saints in game two, striking out two batters in relief of Hutchins.