NORTHFIELD, Vt. – The Lasell College softball team split with a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) softball doubleheader at Norwich Academy Friday afternoon at the NU Softball Field.

Norwich (9-15, 7-13 GNAC) took Game 1 with a 6-5 come-from-behind victory, but Lasell (9-25, 8-14 GNAC) came back with a 16-9 victory in the nightcap to have to settle for a split with the Cadets. Both teams came into Friday's games in a three-way dog fight along with Mount Ida for the eighth and final playoff spot.

Senior Ashley Gatchell (Franklin, Mass.) went 4-for-5 in the nightcap for the Lasers. Freshman Nicolette Genkos (Worcester, Mass.) hit a home run and drove in four runs and sophomore Arianna Genovese (Rocky Hill, Conn.) finished her day with four hits and four RBI.

Lasell took a 3-0 lead in the first inning but Norwich battled back to take the lead with at least one run in the first three innings. Sophomore Victoria Spellman (Rocky Hill, Conn.) singled home sophomore Sarah Kline (Vernon, Conn.) in the top of the sixth to give Lasell a 5-4 lead, but Norwich came back with two runs in the bottom of the sixth to pull out the win.

Spellman and Genovese had two hits apiece for the Lasers. Sophomore Nicole Arcese (Holliston, Mass.) pitched a complete-game effort but suffered the setback inside the circle.

In Game 2, Lasell had a quick start again, this time scoring six runs in the first inning highlighted by a towering grand slam to left field by Genkos to make it 5-0 at the time.

The Lasers had another big inning in the top of the fourth scoring seven more runs to take a 14-0 lead on Norwich. Every Lasell starter notched a hit in the second game as the Lasers pounded out 19 hits to Norwich's 17, and seven Lasell players had at least two hits, led by Gatchell with four hits and freshman Sarah Walton (Poland, Maine) with three.

Lasell will wrap up its regular season Saturday with a GNAC doubleheader at Regis College (12:00 p.m.) with playoff implications on the line.

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