NEWTON, Mass. – Johnson & Wales University needed a four-run rally in the seventh inning Wednesday afternoon to pull out a 4-2 victory over Lasell College and earn a sweep over the Lasers in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) softball doubleheader at Taylor Field. The visiting Wildcats took the opener in five innings, 8-0.
League-leading JWU extended its winning streak to 10 games, improving to 16-7 overall and 13-1 in GNAC games, while Lasell drops to 4-14 overall and evens its conference record to 3-3.
Sophomore Arianna Genovese (Rocky Hill, Conn.) had two hits, including a double, and an RBI to lead the Lasers in the nightcap, while classmate Victoria Spellman (Rocky Hill, Conn.) reached base four times with a double and three walks and scored both Laser runs. Spellman also had both of Lasell's hits in the first game, a first-inning single and a third-inning double.
Lasell is back in action Friday at Taylor Field with a GNAC make-up twinbill vs. Saint Joseph's College (Maine), beginning at 3:00 p.m.
Game 1 – Johnson & Wales 8, Lasell 0
Johnson & Wales scored all the runs it would need with four in the top of the first inning. Sophomore Tiffani Semanchik (Flemington, N.J.) singled in a run; senior Jennifer Corona (Middle Island, N.Y.) followed with an RBI double to make it 2-0; and juniors Ally Mishol (Longmeadow, Mass.) and Saxon Bresnahan (Quincy, Mass.) added RBI singles to left to extend the margin to 4-0.
The Wildcats tacked on two more runs with two outs in the second inning. Following a Laser error and a walk, senior Katie Rufo (Natick, Mass.) cracked an RBI single to right and Mishol reached on an error to bring home another run. JWU added single runs the next two innings as junior Meghan Gavin (Wallingford, Conn.) hit a sacrifice fly to right field in the third and Rufo drilled an RBI double to right in the fourth.
Corona went the distance for JWU, allowing just the two hits and three walks while striking out four, improving her record to 7-4.
Game 2 – Johnson & Wales 4, Lasell 2
Lasell took a 1-0 lead in the third inning when Spellman walked, went to second on a ground out, and came home on an RBI single by freshman Bethany Hector (Jaffrey, N.H.). The Lasers doubled their lead with a run in the fifth inning when Spellman walked and then scored on Genovese's double down the left field line.
Freshman pitcher Hailey Haskins (Franklin, N.H.) sailed through the first six scoreless innings, allowing only a fourth inning single, but the Wildcats finally got to her in the seventh. JWU opened the inning with infield singles by Gavin and Semanchik and a single to left by Corona to load the bases. Rufo tied the score at 2-2 with a two-run double to left, and Mishol followed with an RBI single to give the Wildcats a 3-2 lead. Freshman MJ Bourgeois (Bradford, Vt.) added an insurance run with an RBI triple down the right field line.
Bourgeois earned the win (1-0) in relief for the Wildcats, pitching four-and-a-third innings and allowing just one run on three hits and five walks, striking out five. Haskins was the tough-luck loser for Lasell, dropping her record to 3-5.
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