DUDLEY, Mass. – The Nichols softball team completed a doubleheader sweep of Salve Regina on Sunday afternoon in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) play. With the pair of wins, the Bison improved to 12-13-1 (5-5 CCC) while Salve falls to 13-15 (5-5 CCC).
The Bison will head north to Worcester, Mass. on Thursday, April 20 to take on Worcester State in a doubleheader with the first game starting at 4:00 p.m.
Nichols 7, Salve 6
It was all Bison in the early going, as
Allie Brown doubled deep to center to score
Ava Slavinsky in the bottom of the first to make it 1-0. Brown would later come around to score on a throwing error by the catcher to give Nichols the early 2-0 lead. The Bison added to their lead in the second, loading the bases with two outs before bringing two runs home on a wild pitch and an RBI single by
Bailey Littlefield.
After
Olivia Pedro worked around two singles in the top of the third to keep Salve scoreless, the Bison stayed hot at the plate, as
Allie Silliman worked a leadoff walk, followed by a double by
Emma West-Testo to put two runners in scoring position.
Riley Chartier knocked in Silliman with a sac fly, and two batters later Slavinsky doubled down the left field line to score West-Testo and give Nichols the 6-0 lead. The Seahawks broke through in the fourth, scoring three runs on one hit and two errors, to cut the lead in half.
The Seahawks kept chipping away, this time adding a run in the fifth on a two-out RBI knock to make it 6-4. The Bison added an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth on an RBI double by Silliman, proving the be the difference as Salve scored two in the bottom of the seventh, but
Chelsea Indyk came on for Pedro and struck out the side to give Nichols the one-run victory.
Slavinsky and Littlefield powered the Bison offense, each picking up three hits and an RBI.
Allie Brown added two hits of her own at the top of the lineup, as well as an RBI and two runs scored. Pedro pitched six innings, surrendering six runs (one earned) before handing it over to Indyk who collected her second save of the season.
Nichols 4, Salve 3
The Bison smacked three straight singles in the top of the first, the last one coming off the bat of Littlefield and scoring Brown, to jump out to the early 1-0 lead. After a scoreless second, Salve Regina took their first lead of the day on a base hit to left, scoring two runs.
Nichols responded in the bottom of the third, loading the bases with no outs to bring up Littlefield. Once again, the freshman delivered, this time roping a double to right center scoring Brown and Slavinsky to give the Bison a 3-2 lead. The back and forth continued as Slave tied the game up in the top of the fourth on three hits before Indyk came on in relief, striking out two batters to escape a jam and keep the game tied.
The Bison grabbed the lead back in the bottom of the fourth with a two-out rally of their own. Slavinsky doubled to right center and advanced to third on an error by the center fielder before Brown gave Nichols the lead back with an RBI single. Indyk kept Salve in check over the final three innings to give the Bison another one-run win.
Brown, Littlefield, and Slavinsky all picked up two hits for the Bison, with Littefield adding three RBI to her season total.
Laney Martin, Alyssa Ouellette, and Indyk held the Seahawks to just two earned runs, combining for seven total strikeouts with Indyk earning her fourth win of the season.
