MANCHESTER, N.H. – The Saint Anselm College and Stonehill College softball teams continued their lengthy history Tuesday afternoon, splitting a Northeast-10 Conference twinbill at South Athletic Field. The Hawks won the first game in dramatic fashion, 3-2, before Stonehill returned the favor with a gritty 5-4 win in the nightcap.
The split moves Saint Anselm to 13-4 overall on the season and 5-2 in the NE-10 Northeast division. Stonehill improves to 12-10 overall and 6-4 in league play.
Senior pitcher Tayla Trask (Lincoln, Maine) gave up just two hits in the opener, though the first was a loud one. After issuing a leadoff walk, Stonehill's Megan Ruonavaara blasted a shot over the left field fence to surge to an early 2-0 lead.
That lead would hold until the bottom of the sixth inning when freshman leadoff batter Amanda Bickford (Salem, N.H.) beat out a throw hit to the shortstop. Junior Pattie Turner (Warwick, R.I.) then stepped up and sent a bomb over the fence in right center to tie the game at 2-2 after six.
After Trask struck out the side in the top of the seventh, senior Kasey Moran (Medford, Mass.) led off with a single shot through the left side and she was moved to second by junior Michaela Criscione (Franklin, Mass.), who nearly beat out the throw on the perfectly placed sacrifice push bunt. Freshman Shannon McLaughlin (Tewksbury, Mass.) then reached on a fielder's choice as the second baseman tried to pick off Moran heading to third. Moran, however, slid outside the tag and the Hawks were in business with runners on first and third with one out. After junior Emily Crannell (Wilmington, Mass.) moved McLaughlin to second with a groundout to the third baseman, Bickford picked up arguably her biggest hit of the year with the game-winning RBI crack up the middle to score Moran in walk-off fashion.
Trask finished the game with five strikeouts and gave up just three hits, two walks and two earned runs. She also improved her season record to 8-1 inside the circle.
The Skyhawks jumped ahead early in game two as well, turning two singles, a bunt and a Saint Anselm error to hang a two on the board in the top of the first. Stonehill added two more in the third with a three-hit stanza, capped off by a two-RBI double by Cassandra Squeri.
Saint Anselm's offense woke up in the bottom half of the frame, as junior Julie LeClair (Taunton, Mass.) lead off with a single to left. Freshman Megan Murrell (Scarborough, Maine) then saw one pitch and quickly watched it soar over the fence in right center, scoring LeClair and cutting the lead in half, 4-2, after three.
Saint Anselm then tied the game in the bottom of the fifth. A LeClair leadoff walk followed by two quick outs brought Murrell back to the plate and an ensuing pitching change for the Skyhawks. The new hurler made no difference to the freshman, who drove a heated bouncer to center that was misplayed by the centerfielder, scoring LeClair. Freshman Hannah Paitchel (Pelham, N.H.) then singled up the middle to score Murrell from second to tie the game back at 4-4 after five innings.
The Hawks threatened again in the bottom of the sixth, putting two runners on with one out, but a strikeout and a deep fly to center ended the Saint Anselm attack.
It was the Skyhawks who mixed things up in the top of the seventh, using a pair of pinch hitters to disrupt the groove Saint Anselm senior Paige Cormier (Rochester, N.H.) had settled into nicely. Having retired 11 straight batters from the fourth inning to the first two batters in the seventh, Stonehill's Erin Brayden finally broke it up with a two-out triple down the left field line and a pinch hit blooper single by Taylor Lester swung the momentum back in Stonehill's favor, taking a 5-4 lead. Three straight groundouts in the bottom half of the inning ended the game for the Hawks, who had to settle for a split.
Saint Anselm will continue on a torrid week, traveling to Franklin Pierce University Wednesday and Saint Michael's College Thursday for a pair of road double-headers. Game times for both matchups are slated for 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. at each location.
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