DUDLEY, Mass. (4/17/2024) – The Nichols College softball team earned another pair of victories on Wednesday afternoon, defeating Dean College in non-conference play at the Nichols Softball Field, 8-0 and 16-2. The Bison now have wins in five straight contests, improving to 17-11 (7-3 CCC) overall. The Bulldogs continue to search for their first win on the year, falling to 0-20 (0-8 GNAC) with the losses.

Nichols' 16-run performance in game two was also the highest single-game run total since April 3^rd, 2014, when they beat Fisher College 20-2 and 15-0 in a pair of games. 

Freshman outfielder Kyla Felicani had a stellar day at the plate, going 4-for-6 (.667) with five RBI, including a pair of doubles. Junior Chloe Steiniger also put forward a four-hit afternoon, matching Felicani's .667 average with four RBI. Sophomore Ava Slavinsky drove in three runs on three hits, and additionally scored four times herself. In total, 13 Bison registered hits on the afternoon, as Nichols out-hit Dean by a whopping 26-7 margin.

Game #1 Nichols 8, Dean 0

With one out in the top of the second, Bailey Littlefield laced a two-run double to right-center to put the first two runs on the board. Littlefield then moved ahead to third on a passed ball before scoring on a Felicani sac-fly to center, increasing the lead to 3-0. In the next at bat, Steiniger drove in two more runs with her own double to the gap in right-center, eventually working her way home off a Silliman RBI single to bring the action to 6-0, Bison.

The Herd played through a scoreless third inning but returned for more in the home half of the fourth. With the help of back-to-back errors by the Bulldogs, the Bison made it a 7-0 score as Slavinsky crossed home plate following contact by Felicani. Two batters later, with Felicani now at third, Erin Gour brought her home with a base hit to left field, scoring the eighth and final run of the game for Nichols.

The Bison then retired the top half of the fifth inning, winning the game by the 8-run rule. 

Sophomore Olivia Pedro (5-5) went five innings to pick up her second straight shutout, and fourth consecutive win. The second-year starter struck out two in the winning effort, while also limiting the Bulldogs to just three hits the entire way through.

Game #2 Nichols 16, Dean 2

After jumping out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning, the Bison offense exploded for six runs in the bottom of the second to expand their lead to 7-0. The first of the runs came off the bat of senior Lilly Fangel, who wired a scoring double down the left field line. Fangel then snuck home from second after Shelby Eason reached on a fielding error by the third baseman, which transitioned into back-to-back RBI singles from Slavinsky and Felicani to make it 5-0 Bison. Steiniger and Silliman would both also plate runs prior to the end of the inning.

The Bulldogs responded with two runs in the top of the third inning, but to no avail as Nichols tacked on two more runs in the bottom half. One of the two runs made its way home off a double to deep left field by sophomore Mary Jo-Laudati, notching her first collegiate RBI.

The scoring onslaught continued in the fourth inning, as Laudati returned for a second RBI on a single to center field to make it 11-2, Nichols. Following an RBI double from Slavinsky, Felicani delivered her final two runs of the afternoon with her own double to left-center field, increasing the home advantage to 14-2. Then, with still just one out in the inning, freshman Hannah Cozza made it a 15-2 ballgame with an RBI single to right-center.

Freshman Hannah Ruggiero, in her first collegiate at-bat, connected for a double to score the final run of the game for Nichols for her first career hit, and her first career RBI.

Junior Chelsea Indyk (8-3) picked up the win for the Bison after putting in five innings of work, allowing two earned runs on four hits with eight strikeouts.

The Bison will make their first trip out to the University of Hartford (19-6-1) for a doubleheader this Saturday, April 20^th at Noon and 2:00 PM.