Rindge, N.H. (April 8) -- After Franklin Pierce
took game on by a 6-5 final on an eighth-inning, walkoff homer,
Saint Anselm gained the split with a 6-3 victory in the second
game. The split is the third straight for the Hawks in Northeast-10
play.
In the top of the first, Jackie Giannino (Beverly,
Mass.) drew a two-out walk and came home on a double to
right center by Liz Trafton (Berwick, Maine) for
the early 1-0 lead. The Ravens evened the score in the bottom of
the inning after Aimee Lamoreaux led off with a
triple to right field and scored on a ground-rule double by
Jayme Bilafer.
Saint Anselm seemingly took control with single runs in the
fourth and sixth innings, along with a pair in the fifth, and built
a 5-1 lead heading into the bottom of the sixth inning. Franklin
Pierce jumped on Hawks pitching in the sixth, putting up four runs
on three hits to tie the game. Alexa Demsey scored
the tying run on a two-out passed ball for the Ravens.
In the seventh, Saint Anselm relief pitcher Megan Lemire
(Worcester, Mass.) got the Ravens for the first out before
Jessica Furtado hit a walkoff home run to left to
clinch the win for the hosts. Lemire went 1.2 innings of relief of
Saint Anselm starter Lisa Caruso (Granby, Conn.)
and allowed just the one hit as she dropped to 3-4 overall. Caruso
threw 5.2 innings, scattering six hits and allowing five runs,
including four earned. Jessica Wiley picked up the
win in relief for Franklin Pierce, going 1.1 innings of relief and
moving to 5-3 for the season.
In game two, Lemire went all seven innings for the Hawks,
scattering nine hits and allowing three earned runs to improve to
4-4 overall. Saint Anselm jumped on top early with a three-run
second before RBI's from sophomore Mary Fay (Stoughton,
Mass.) and senior Moira McCabe (Brookline,
N.H.). Fay scored later in the inning with an unearned run
to the 3-0 lead.
In the bottom of the second, the Ravens cut that lead to 3-1
after Furtado led off with a single to shortstop and came home
on an RBI single up the middle by Keryn Shannon.
Saint Anselm pushed the lead back to a three-run margin in the
third on the second homer of the year from senior Lizzy
LeBrun (Rowley, Mass.), but the Ravens made it a one-run
contest yet again at 4-3 with two runs on five hits in the bottom
of the frame.
The Hawks picked up two key insurance runs in the sixth as
freshman Kylene Pease (Ashland, Mass.) reached on
an error by the second baseman and scored on a homer to center
field by junior Kayla McEachern (Stoughton, Mass.)
for the 6-3 final.
Wiley took the loss for the Ravens, getting the start and
lasting just 3.1 innings while allowing seven hits and four runs.
The loss drops Wiley to 5-4 on the season.
With the split, Saint Anselm is now 10-12 overall and 3-5 in
Northeast-10 play, while the Ravens sit at 9-14 overall and 4-6 in
the league. Saint Anselm returns to action this weekend, traveling
to Saint Rose on Saturday and Le Moyne on Sunday afternoon.
