DUDLEY, Mass. – Sophomores
Kasey Ayer (Niantic, Conn.) and
Kendall Meehan (Danvers, Mass.) each drove in four runs to propel the Nichols College softball team to a doubleheader sweep of Curry College Sunday afternoon in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) action at the Nichols Softball Field.
Game One: Nichols 9, Curry 1 (6 inn.)
The Bison scored two runs in each of the first three innings and cruised to victory behind two RBI from Ayer, Meehan, and junior
Christina Drake (Lebanon, N.H.).
Ayer's two-run triple in the first staked Nichols to an early lead, and Meehan's fifth round tripper of the season in the second doubled the lead. Run scoring singles from senior
Haley Fountain (Warren, Mass.) and freshman
Zoe Chevrette (Wilbraham, Mass.) in the third made it 6-0 before an RBI single from freshman
Callie Andrews (Southbridge, Mass.) and a two-run single from Drake in the sixth capped the scoring.
Fountain tossed her best game of the season for the Bison as she held the Colonels to three hits over six innings to improve to 3-2 on the season. She walked two and fanned four. Junior McKenna Barlow (Middletown, R.I.) was tagged for 12 hits and nine runs in 5.2 IP as she took her first loss of the season.
Game Two: Nichols 9, Curry 8
Meehan went 2-for-2 with three RBI – including a walk-off single in the seventh – as the Bison completed their first sweep of the Colonels in Dudley since April 13, 2001. The Bison entered the seventh trailing by a run for the second-straight day but rallied for their third win in their final at bat this season.
The Bison led 6-5 heading to the seventh when, after sophomore Rachel Byrd (Hampstead, N.H.) reached on an error to begin the inning, junior Marissa Bruno (Milford, Conn.) homered to center to put the visitors up 8-7.
In the home half of the frame, junior
Christina Barrows (Carver, Mass.) reached on a single with one out and came around to score on a single up the middle by Fountain. After sophomore
Courtney Manarky (Amston, Conn.) sacrificed junior pinch runner
Jade Palladino (Lynnfield, Mass.) to second, Meehan singled her home to end the game.
Junior
Meghan Sears (Tewksbury, Mass.) went the distance for Nichols for the win, her third of the season. She surrendered 12 hits and eight runs over seven with one walk and one strikeout. Sophomore Rebecca Black (East Greenwich, R.I.) gave up six hits and three runs in 2.2 innings of relief and was hit for the loss.
Bruno finished the game 3-for-4 with four RBI and two runs scored while sophomores Morgan Bogardus (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y.) and Jordan Lizotte (Rehoboth, Mass.) each plated two runs.
All-Time Series
Today's games marked the 54th and 55th all-time meetings between Nichols College and Curry College. The Bison completed their first sweep of the Colonels since 2011 and have won four of the last six meetings, but trail the series, 32-23.
Quotes
"It's a great feeling to get our first conference sweep of the season. It wasn't going to be easy to do against a team like Curry, who we knew could hit despite what happened in game one. Our sabermetrics guru, Michael McCourt, told us before the game that the magic number was nine runs, and that's what we scored in both games. All of the pieces are coming together. We're starting to figure out how to work together and what everyone's role on this team is. It should be pretty fun from here on out." – Nichols head coach
Heather Korzec
"We've had extra innings twice in the last two days and we've won with different people contributing each time. Kendall is a consistent performer for us, but yesterday it was Courtney and today it was Zoe getting a few hits. She made some fielding mistakes but also made a key fielding play for us in the seventh to keep us in the game. The kids are starting to gain confidence and it feels great." –Korzec, on the team's second walk-off victory in two days
"We really needed these wins. We've split most of our conference doubleheaders, so it was nice to get the win in game two. We came out swinging the bats in the first game, but started off slow in the second game. Our offense eventually took off and continues to build with each game. Our confidence is really high right now. We're a great team. We have a lot of talent and should do really well the rest of the season." –Sears, on sweeping the Colonels
Next Games
Nichols (9-9, 4-4 CCC) – Thursday, April 14 vs Fitchburg St., 3:00 p.m.
Curry (10-8, 2-4 CCC) – Tuesday, April 12 vs Wentworth, 3:30 p.m.
