MANCHESTER, N.H. – Megan Murrell was 5-for-6 at the plate but the Saint Anselm College softball team lost both games of a doubleheader against Merrimack by scores of 6-1 and 10-7 on Sunday afternoon at South Athletic Fields.
Merrimack 6, Saint Anselm 1 | Box
Merrimack (11-19, 4-7 NE-10) starter Haley Currie held Saint Anselm (9-17, 5-8 NE-10) to one run on five hits in a complete game for the second day in a row to help the Warriors take game one 6-1.
In the top of the second, Saint Anselm loaded the bases on a Pattie Turner double, an error and a single by Murrell. Leiandra Wilson followed with a sacrifice fly to right to score Turner but Currie limited the damage to one run.
Merrimack plated four unearned runs in the top of the third to stake Currie to a lead. Sammy Waskowitz, Currie and Caitlin McBride all had two-out, run-scoring hits and a fourth run scored on an error, as the Warriors took a 4-1 lead.
The four-run third was all Currie would need to pick up the win. The Warriors added two runs in the seventh, as Waskowitz and McBride each picked up their second RBI hits of the game. The pair combined to go 4-for-8 with three runs and four RBI in game one.
Murrell was 3-for-3 at the dish for Saint Anselm and tallied three of the team's five hits. Sam Hennequin allowed four unearned runs in 2.2 innings, while Arika Brochu yielded two runs in 4.1 innings of work for the Hawks in the circle.
Merrimack 10, Saint Anselm 7 | Box
McBride was 3-for-3 with two home runs, a double, a walk, two runs and five RBI to power Merrimack to a 10-7 win in a back-and-forth game two. The Warriors scored a run in six different innings, while the Hawks scored in four frames in a non-conference game.
Both offenses got going in the first inning, as the teams each put three runs on the board. McBride accounted for Merrimack's three first-inning runs with a three-run blast to left. The Hawks came back with a two-run double by Pattie Turner and a sacrifice fly off the bat of Murrell to tie it up.
After the Warriors went ahead 4-3 in the second, the Hawks got back-to-back RBI doubles from Murrell and Shannon McLaughlin to take a 5-4 lead in the third. The teams traded runs in the fourth, with Saint Anselm's run scoring on a Turner sacrifice fly, to leave the Hawks up 6-5 after four.
Merrimack scored the next three runs to lead 8-6 before Saint Anselm got a run back in the bottom of the sixth. Murrell drove home Karoline Leavitt with a single to make it 8-7. McLaughlin followed with a single but Murrell was tagged out in a rundown between third and home to limit the Hawks to a single run.
Currie and McBride hit back-to-back home runs to start the top of the seventh to close the scoring. Currie, one of five Merrimack pitchers in game two, picked up her second win of the day, and third of the weekend by allowing one run on four hits in three innings.
Amanda Bickford was 3-for-4 with two runs, while four Saint Anselm players had two hits apiece. Michaela Criscione and Karoline Leavitt each had two hits and scored a run, Murrell was 2-for-3 with a run and three RBI, and McLaughlin was 2-for-4 with one RBI. Turner matched Murrell with three RBI in the loss.
Hennequin threw the final 6.2 innings for Saint Anselm, allowing seven runs (four earned) on eight hits.
Saint Anselm hosts Franklin Pierce in a doubleheader on Tuesday, April 12 beginning at 3 p.m. at South Athletic Fields. The twinbill was originally scheduled for April 6 but was postponed due to weather.
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