SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Junior Alexis Ferris struck out 13 batters and senior Jessica Kuelling drove in a pair of runs as the No. 6 seed Nichols College softball team knocked off No. 3 seed Western New England 5-1 Wednesday afternoon in the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) playoffs at Golden Bear Park.

With the win, the Bison (17-17-1) snapped a six-game losing streak to the Golden Bears and advance to the winners bracket to face No. 2 UNE Thursday at 1:30 p.m. in Biddeford, Maine; the Nor'easters knocked off No. 7 seed Gordon 6-0 earlier today.

The Golden Bears grabbed a 1-0 in the first on an RBI single off the bat of freshman Dana DiBlasio. In the fourth, the Bison struck for four runs behind an RBI single from sophomore Colleen Callahan, a two-run double from Kuelling, and an RBI groundout from junior Amanda Alioto.

That was more than enough run support for Ferris, who allowed just two hits over seven innings to earn her ninth win of the season. Junior Cara Mayhew added an insurance run in the fifth when she doubled in Kuelling.

Junior Aimee Kistner – who threw seven shutout innings earlier this season against Nichols – was tagged for four runs on five hits in in three innings of work for WNE.

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"Today was an incredible win for us on the road. Our student-athletes clearly had the right mindset going in and went hard from first pitch to last." –Nichols head coach Kristan Mallet.