Manchester, N.H. (May 1) -- On Saturday afternoon, the Saint Anselm softball team dropped a pair of games to first-place and No. 11 nationally-ranked University of New Haven in Northeast-10 play. The Hawks fell in game one by a 3-0 final and dropped game two, 10-2, in five innings, to drop to 18-24 overall and 11-18 in the NE-10.

Game One: New Haven 3, Saint Anselm 0
New Haven got a pair of runs in the second and added a third as the Chargers took the opening game by a 3-0 final. The Chargers rode the arm of pitcher Breanne Gleason, who struck out 14 Saint Anselm batters and didn't give up a hit until a one-out single to center by freshman Kylene Pease (Ashland, Mass.) in the bottom of the seventh.

Gleason led off the second for New Haven with a single down the left field line and came home on a triple to right by Meghan Walter. Walter came home two batters later on a sacrifice fly for the 2-0 edge. Gleason scored in the fourth inning as well, also on a sacrifice fly, for the 3-0 final.

Gleason improved to 30-3 with the win, while Saint Anselm starter Shannon Dalton (Concord, Mass.) went seven innings, scattering seven hits and allowing just the three earned runs and striking out two.

Game Two: New Haven 10, Saint Anselm 2 (5 innings)
New Haven scored five runs in the fourth and three in fifth as the Chargers picked up the sweep of the Hawks in game two.

After the Chargers jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning, Saint Anselm answered right back with a pair in the bottom of the frame to tie things up at 2-2. The first three Hawks reached in the inning, including an RBI single up the middle by junior Jackie Giannino (Beverly, Mass.) that scored senior Moira McCabe (Brookline, N.H.) for the Hawks' first run of the doubleheader. At that point, Gleason relieved New Haven starting pitcher Keri Tricinelli, who allowed two earned runs without recording an out. Saint Anselm picked up its second run on an RBI bunt by Pease that scored Kayla McEachern (Stoneham, Mass.) and it was a new game after an inning.

The game remained that way until the fourth when the Chargers struck for five runs on six hits for the 8-2 lead, followed by three more in the top of the fifth in the 10-2 final. The Hawks managed just five hits in the game, including just two off Gleason in five innings pitched as she improved to 31-3 and now has 260 strikeouts on the season. Senior pitcher Megan Lemire (Worcester, Mass.) took the loss for the Hawks to fall to 8-10 overall, going 3.2 innings in defeat.

Saint Anselm is back in action on Sunday afternoon, hosting Southern Connecticut in a Northeast-10 doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m. Prior to the game, the Hawks will be honoring four members of the Saint Anselm softball team playing in their final career home games (Lisa Caruso, Lizzy LeBrun, Megan Lemire and Moira McCabe).