DUDLEY, Mass. – Sophomore Kasey Ayer (Niantic, Conn.) laced a two-run single and junior Christina Barrows (Carver, Mass.) belted her first home run of the season for the Nichols College softball team, which lost a pair of games to Western New England University Saturday afternoon in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) action at the Nichols Softball Field.

Highlights: Ayer two-run double / Monaco RBI single / Meehan RBI single / Sears single

Game One: Western New England 9, Nichols 1 (6 innings)
Junior Gabby Lavinio (Dalton, Mass.) launched a pair of home runs and drove in three to lift the Golden Bears to a 9-1 win in the opener. Sophomore Lindsay Williams (Coventry, R.I.) had three hits for the visitors, who scored four times in the sixth inning to break the game open. Six of the nine student-athletes in the Western New England lineup finished with at least two hits.

Barrows accounted for the lone Nichols run with her second collegiate home run in the third inning. Senior Haley Fountain (Warren, Mass.) was tagged for seven hits and seven runs (six earned) in 3.1 innings of work in her third start of the season. She walked five and struck out one.
Senior Heidi Grieger (Hyde Park, N.Y.) evened her record at 4-4 for the Golden Bears. In four innings of work, she held the Bison to three hits and one run with four walks and four strikeouts.

Game Two: Western New England 7, Nichols 4  
The Golden Bears pounded out 14 hits en route to a sweep of the Bison. Lavinio and senior McKenzie Pezze (Albany, N.Y.) each had two hits and two RBI while sophomore Sarah Broderick (Woodbury, Conn.) fanned six in four innings of relief to earn her first win of the season.

Nichols led 3-1 after one inning behind a two-run double off the bat of Ayer and an RBI single by sophomore Sara Monaco (Glen Cove, N.Y.). Western New England answered with four in the second to regain the lead, highlighted by a two-run single from Lavinio. Pezza had an RBI single in the third and another in the sixth. Sophomore Kendall Meehan (Danvers, Mass.) drove in her 10th run of the season in the third for Nichols.

Junior Meghan Sears (Tewksbury, Mass.) surrendered 14 hits and seven runs in seven innings of work. She walked a pair and struck out three to move to 1-4 on the season.

All-Time Series
Today's games marked the 42nd and 43rd all-time meetings between Nichols College and Western New England. With the sweep, the Golden Bears lead the series, 30-12-1, and have won eight in a row since being swept by the Bison in Dudley on April 4, 2012.

Quotes
"They were hitting rockets off of us, particularly in the first game with us trying to get Haley back into form. That had a lot to do with it. Once we fell behind, we decided to leave her in. We wanted her to work on being able to pitch out of any situation. She knows she is a work in progress. Some of her pitches aren't working yet, but we'll get there." –Nichols head coach Heather Korzec, on the Golden Bears offense and Fountain

"Christina Barrows played great. She had a home run and is doing well as a leadoff hitter. We still need to work on closing the door defensively. We get two quick outs and then face three of four batters afterwards, which is where we seem to run ourselves into trouble. That will be our focus this week, as well as our hitting. We were solid overall on defense, but the secondary plays sometimes kill us. I'm not sure if were completely ready mentally. I think this being the first home game of the season may have had something to do with it." –Korzec, on positives from today

Next Games
Nichols (5-7, 0-2 CCC) – Friday, April 2 vs Eastern Nazarene, 3:00 p.m.
Western New England (7-7, 2-0 CCC) – Tuesday, March 26 vs Westfield St., 3:00 p.m.