BOSTON, Mass. – The Emmanuel College softball team blasted six home runs to power past Lasell College, 7-1 & 11-8, Saturday morning in the first Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) games of the season at Roberto Clemente Field.
Junior Victoria Spellman (Rocky Hill, Conn.) provided the big highlight for Lasell, collecting her 100th career in style with a home run in the first game.
With the outcome, Emmanuel improves to 11-9 overall and 2-0 in the conference, while Lasell drops to 3-15 overall and 0-2 in the GNAC.
Both teams will be right back in action on Sunday, April 7, as Lasell plays a GNAC doubleheader at Johnson & Wales University, beginning at noon, and Emmanuel hosts Rivier in a conference twin bill at 1 p.m.
Game 1 – Emmanuel 7, Lasell 1
EC freshman Grace Orcutt (Lexington, Mass.) and junior Yuleska Ramirez-Tejeda (Cambridge, Mass.) got things started for the Saints in the first inning with home runs to make it 5-0. Orcutt blasted a two-run bomb before Ramirez-Tejeda added a three-run shot.
Ramirez-Tejeda extended the Saint's lead in the third to 6-0 with her second home run of the game, a solo blast to center field.
The Lasers earned their only run of the game in the top of the fourth with Spellman's solo home run. Emmanuel freshman Renae Lacroix (Cumberland, R.I.) drove in the final run of the game for the Saint in the bottom of the fourth to account for the 7-1 final.
EC senior pitcher Megan Kieselback (Wethersfield, Conn.) worked six innings to earn the win and improve to 4-5 on the year in the circle while Orcutt pitched a scoreless seventh to preserve the win.
Game 2 – Emmanuel 11, Lasell 8
Orcutt struck again in the bottom of the first to get things started for the Saints with her second moonshot of the morning, a three-run homer to give Emmanuel an early 3-0 cushion. After senior Audrey Esakoff (Ventura, Calif.) doubled to left field in the second, senior Olivia Burgos (Newington, Conn.) extended the Saints' lead to 5-0 with two-run inside the park home run to right field.
The Lasers got their first hit of the game in the fourth on an RBI double from junior Arianna Genovese (Rocky Hill, Conn.) to get one back at 5-1.
EC junior Sarah Hoisl (West Hartford, Conn.) added a few more runs for the Saints in the fourth with a two-run home run to make it a six-run cushion at 7-1. Senior Kerry Sendrick (Medway, Mass.) drove in pinch-runner freshman Abigail Conley (Riverside, R.I.) on a single to center field in the fifth, 8-1.
Three RBI singles from Genovese, Spellman, and sophomore Hailey Haskins (Franklin, N.H.) drove in three runs for the Lasers to cut the lead in half at 8-4. The Lasers tied the game in sixth after two walks drove in two more runs and Haskins scored on a wild pitch, 8-8.
The Saints regained lead in the bottom of the sixth on RBI singles from Orcutt and freshman Avery Webb (Hollis, N.H) which brought in a combined total of three runs, 11-8.
Orcutt recorded her first collegiate win in relief, retiring the final out in the sixth while Kieselback came in to close the door in the seventh to record the save.
(Courtesy of Emmanuel Athletic Communications)
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