NEWTON, Mass. – Lasell College batters were held to just six hits for the day, three in each game, as the Lasers dropped a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) softball doubleheader to Emmanuel College Monday afternoon at Taylor Field, 8-0 in six innings and 7-1.
Junior Megan Kieselback (Wethersfield, Conn.) scattered three hits and two walks in the complete-game victory for Emmanuel in the opener, striking out four, and junior Olivia Burgos (Newington, Conn.) allowed just three hits in five shutout innings in the nightcap.
With the sweep, Emmanuel improves to 16-15 overall and 9-9 in the GNAC, while Lasell drops to 8-22 overall and 7-11 in conference play. The Saints and Lasers are in seventh and eighth place in the GNAC with both having six conference games remaining.
Game 1 – Emmanuel 8, Lasell 0
Junior Casey Sheehan (Medway, Mass.) had three hits to lead a 12-hit offense for the Saints, while Burgos had two doubles, junior Audrey Esakoff (Ventura, Calif.) had a single and a double and Yuleska Ramirez-Tejeda (South Boston, Mass.) hit a home run and knocked in a pair.
Sophomore Victoria Spellman (Rocky Hill, Conn.) had two of the three Lasell hits, including a double.
Sheehan gave the Saints the only run they would need with an RBI single in the first inning, knocking in Burgos, who had led off with a double. Burgos doubled again in the second inning to bring in a run, and Burgos and Sheehan both came home on the back end of double steals to make it 4-0.
The visitors pulled away with three more in the fifth inning as Esakoff doubled and came home on an error, and Ramirez-Tejeda belted a two-run homer, her third of the season. Emmanuel reached the eight-run lead with one more run in the sixth on an RBI groundout by freshman Meaghan Price (Corning, N.Y.)
Game 2 – Emmanuel 7, Lasell 1
The Saints scored three times in both the second and third innings to take control of the game early on. Price singled in a run in the second and Burgos delivered a two-run single to make it 3-0. Sophomore Sarah Hoisl (West Hartford, Conn.) and Sheehan singled to lead off the third inning, and after a double steal, both came home on infield grounders. Esakoff followed with an RBI single to push the score to 6-0, and a Lasell outfield error led to another run in the sixth inning.
Lasell broke up the shutout with a run in the bottom of the seventh without a hit. Sophomore Arianna Genovese (Rocky Hill, Conn.) walked, went to second on a passed ball and third on a wild pitch, and scored on an infield ground out.
Price finished with two hits for the Saints, while Spellman had another double to highlight the Laser offense.
Burgos struck out five in her five-inning stint, while freshman Mikaela Montemagni (Chicopee, Mass.) pitched the final two hitless innings and fanned two.
Next Games
The Lasers continue their string of five doubleheaders in five days on Tuesday with a GNAC make-up twin bill at Mount Ida College, beginning at 3:00 p.m. The Saints also face Mount Ida in their next outing, hosting the Mustangs for a pair Wednesday at 6:00 p.m.
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