Softball Advances on in TCCC Tournament with Two Wins Today

Box Score WENHAM/BEVERLY, Mass.- The Nichols College softball team advanced on to the final day of play in The Commonwealth Coast Conference Tournament with a pair of wins on Friday. The Bison defeated Gordon 5-0 at Endicott in their first game of the day before earning a 11-10 victory in nine innings against the University of New England at Gordon. Nichols scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to tie the game at 10 all and plated the game-winning run in the ninth. The Bison will play the loser of the Endicott/Western New England College game, which got postponed in the fourth inning with the Gulls leading 4-1 today. That game will resume at 9:00 a.m.tomorrow with the Nichols game set to begin at 10:00 a.m.

Sophomore Loren Rozanski (Plainville, Conn.) reached on an error and advanced to third when senior Lauren Person (Vernon, Conn.) smacked a double to right center field in the ninth inning. Senior Joanne Brignoli (Feeding Hills, Mass.) then drove home Rozanski with a single through the left side to keep Nichols alive in the tournament.

The Bison cut UNE's lead to two, 7-5, with a five run third after the Nor'easters posted two runs in the first, three in the second and two more in the third. Person drove in one run while sophomores Valeri Calcagni (Rocky Hill, Conn.) and Lauren Lombardo (Wolcott, Conn.) each drove in two runs. Nichols tied the game at 7-7 with a pair of runs in the fourth off RBI singles from Brignoli and Calcagni. UNE took a one run lead after scoring off a wild pitch in the fifth. A run scoring single from junior Christina Hebert (Johnston, R.I.) tied the game at 8-8 in the fifth but the Nor'easters took a two run lead off two hits in the seventh. The Bison forced extra innings when they scored two runs off one hit and three errors in the bottom half of the seventh. Hebert and freshman Sheleese Young (Salt Lake City, Utah) both scored off an error by UNE's shortstop.

Freshman Lindsay Hassett (Oxford, Mass.) earned the win on the mound, pitching the final three innings where she gave up just two hits.

Earlier in the day, with the Bison already leading the Fighting Scots 1-0 in the second inning, Hebert laced a three-run homer to left.

After the Bison tacked on another run in the fourth, Hassett put the finishing touches on a one-hit shutout to give Nichols a 5-0 victory.

With her first win of the day Hassett improved to 7-5 on the season. She gave up just one hit over seven innings while striking out 10 Gordon hitters. Offensively the Bison were led by Herbert who was 1-2 with a three-run homer. Lombardo also chipped in with two hits and two runs scored in the win.

The loss eliminates Gordon (14-23) from the tournament, while Nichols (25-15) advanced on to its game against UNE. Endicott and WNEC will pick up where they left off in the fourth inning on Saturday at Endicott Softball Field in Beverly, Mass. Game time is scheduled for 9:00 a.m. with the TCCC Championship games being set for later that afternoon.

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