Manchester, N.H. (April 23) -- After dropping a
heartbreaking 1-0 final to Pace in game one on Friday afternoon,
the Hawks fell by a 5-1 margin in the second game as the Setters
swept the twinbill from Saint Anselm. The games mark the first
of three straight doubleheaders for the Hawks this
weekend.
In game one, starting pitchers Megan Lemire (Worcester,
Mass.) for Saint Anselm and Christina
Rescigno kept the game scoreless until the top of the
sixth inning. With two outs in the inning, sophomore catcher
Kayla Nelson reached on an error, followed by a
Nicole Schultheis single to left center to move
Nelson up to second. Sophomore Larissa Porcelli
got the Setters on the board with an RBI single up the middle to
plate Nelson for the game's only run and the 1-0 Setter victory.
The Hawks got runners on in both the sixth and seventh innings,
including the tying run at second in the seventh, before Rescigno
completed the two-hit shutout to improve to 5-9 overall for the
Setters.
Freshman Shannon Dalton (Concord, Mass.) went
the distance for the Hawks, allowing just five hits while striking
out three and allowing zero earned runs. For the Hawks, senior
Jackie Giannino (Beverly, Mass.) had her
career-best 16-game hitting streak snapped as she was 0-for-2 in
the game with a walk.
In the second game, the Setters took an early 1-0 lead on Saint
Anselm starter Lisa Caruso (Granby, Conn.) as
Nelson homered for her fifth long ball of the season. In the
second, the Setters chased Caruso with four runs on five hits,
including four RBI singles, to build the lead to 5-0. The Hawks cut
the lead to 5-1 in the bottom of the third with a blast to left
center by Hawk freshman Amanda Massad (Grafton,
Mass.), her third homer of the season. That was the end of
the offense for both teams though as just four runners got into
scoring position between the two teams over the final four
innings.
Caruso fell to 3-3 with the loss, allowing five earned in 1.2
innings before Lemire pitched 5.1 innings of four-hit relief.
Chelsea Shea threw five innings of four-hit,
one-run ball to improve to 6-5 on the season.
With the sweep, Pace improves to 19-21 overall and 7-13 in the
Northeast-10, while Saint Anselm drops to 16-18 overall and 9-11 in
the league. The Hawks are back in action on Saturday afternoon,
taking on American International in Springfield, Mass. Saint Anselm
sixth-year head coach Greg Joseph will be going
for his 100th career win in the twinbill that begins at Noon.
