Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 DUDLEY, Mass. (April 16) – The Nichols College softball team staged a six-run sixth-inning comeback and scored the game-winning run on a sacrifice fly from Chelsea Correia (Seekonk, Mass.) in the bottom of the eighth to win, 9-8, in the first of two games in a The Commonwealth Coast Conference sweep of visiting University of New England Saturday afternoon. Molly Ferraro (Millis, Mass.) pitched a four-hitter in the nightcap as Nichols took the second game, 3-1. The Bison improve to 17-12 overall and 13-5 in TCCC games, while the Nor'easters fall to 22-10 overall and 15-5 in the conference.

Trailing, 7-2, heading into the sixth, Nichols loaded the bases with three singles before scoring their first run on an outfield error. Emalee Watkins (Malden, Mass.) drove in two runs with a double before Chelsea Correia sent one more across with a single. Savannah Thibault's (Malborough, Mass.) double plated the go-ahead runs.

A bases-loaded line out to left from Amanda Vaudreuil in the top of the seventh knotted the game back up at 8-8, and the Bison's two-out rally in the bottom half of the inning fell short with runners left on first and second.

A play at the plate kept UNE off the board in the extra frame, and Nichols got out of the inning stranding Nor'easters on second and third. Watkins started the eighth on base for the Bison and advanced to third on a wild pitch before Chelsea Correia's flyout to left gave Nichols the comeback win.

UNE had three home runs in the early goings, including two from Marie Mantelli, who finished 2-for-3 with three RBI and three runs scored. Her solo shot in the second put the Nor'easters up, 2-0, and she added a two-run homer in the fourth that followed a solo dinger from Megan Gauger (South Paris, Maine), to give UNE a 5-0 advantage.

Kara Buckley earned the win for the Bison, striking out three while giving up 10 hits and eight runs (six earned). Erin Lyons was tagged with the loss, allowing nine runs (seven earned) on 15 hits while fanning four.

In the second game, UNE left the bases loaded in the first inning, but it wasn't until the second that the Nor'easters got on the board. After Ferraro started the inning by walking two, Maegen Johnson reached via fielder's choice as the leadoff batter, Mantelli, came across to score. Ferraro kept the Nor'easters in check after that, giving up only one more hit the rest of the way and seeing just on runner reach second base.

A two-run, two-out single from Thibault put Nichols ahead in the third, scoring Allasyn Lieneck (Oldsmar, Fla.), who doubled, and Chelsea Correia, who singled. In the fourth, Mary Kate Frodema (Springfield, Mass.) led off with a single and Nichols loaded the bases for Lieneck, who was hit by the pitch with two outs, sending Frodema across the plate.

UNE pitcher Julie Bigelow held Nichols to one hit through the final two frames, but took the less with nine hits, two earned runs and four strikeouts. Ferraro won her eighth game in her 10th complete-game effort of the season.

Nichols takes a break from TCCC action with a 3:30 home doubleheader against WPI on Monday. UNE will look to snap its four-game slide at St. Joseph's (Maine) on Tuesday in a 5 p.m. non-conference twinbill.


Game One Box Score

Game Two Box Score