BOSTON – With the final week of the regular season starting and the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) tournament seeding still up for grabs, Emmanuel softball split a doubleheader on Tuesday with the Rivier Raiders from Clemente Field.
The split moves the Saints to 12-20 (10-2 GNAC, 6-2 GNAC North), while the Raiders move to 15-13 (7-3 GNAC, 3-3 GNAC North.
GAME ONE: Emmanuel 2 – Rivier 0
Tuesday's opening game featured a pitcher's duel between Saints senior
Madison Marks and Raiders sophomore
Hailey Berube. Marks and Berube allowed a combined six hits over the game, coming in an Emmanuel 2-0 win.
Scoreless until the bottom of the fourth, the Saints broke through to take a 1-0 lead. With two outs and senior
Taylor Chelak on third, a Raiders miscue brought Chelak in from 60 feet away, giving the Saints a one-run edge.
The lead doubled in the sixth with Marks helping her cause with a solo home run to straight away center field, boosting the Saints advantage to 2-0. Marks' homer is her team-leading fourth of the season and second with her as the Saints starting pitcher.
Rivier threatened in the top of the seventh, leading off with a single by junior
Olivia Couto. After back-to-back fielders' choices and a Raiders walk put two on with two out, the Saints clinched the shutout win with a Raiders flyout to center field.
Marks, senior
Abigail Farr, and junior
Christyna Winstead had the Saints three hits, coming with a home run, a single, and a double, respectively. Marks finished with a complete game shutout, allowing three hits, while winning her sixth straight game to improve to 7-8.
Couto, graduate student
Hannah Muchemore, and sophomore
Hayleigh Silva had the Raiders three hits, all coming as singles. Berube allowed one earned run on three hits, but drops to 6-7 this season.
GAME TWO: Rivier 4 – Emmanuel 3
Early scoring started game two, with the Raiders holding a 2-1 lead after one. In the top half of the inning, Rivier's consecutive singles put two runners on. After back-to-back outs, Couto doubled to left field, giving the Raiders a 1-0 lead. The visitor's doubled the lead on an Emmanuel error, leading to a 2-0 edge.
The Saints answered back in the bottom of the first with the help of a triple down the right-field line by sophomore
Mia Fernandes. Chelak would step in and provide an RBI groundout to second, cutting the deficit to 2-1.
The game would stay at 2-1 until the top of the sixth when the Raiders added a pair of insurance runs to take a 4-1 lead. An RBI double by senior
Courtney Marioles followed by an RBI single by junior
Kylee Caetano lifted Rivier to a three-run advantage.
Emmanuel made a final charge in the bottom of the seventh, nearly completing a two-out rally to send the game to extra innings. Back-to-back two-out singles by senior
Rebecca Markie and sophomore
Alexis Martineau started the rally.
After advancing to second and third on a passed ball, Farr hit a two-run double into left-center field, cutting the deficit back down to one at 4-3. But the rally fell short on a pinch-hit groundout by first-year
Samantha Serio, as the Raiders held on for the one-run win.
Couto finished 2-for-3 with a pair of doubles, one run scored, and one RBI. Marioles and Caetano both finished 1-for-3, each with an RBI. Marioles pitched all seven innings, allowing three runs, two earned, on six hits, while improving to 7-3.
Fernandes finished 2-for-3, including a triple and a run scored. Martineau batted 2-for-3 with a pair of singles and a run scored. First-year
Lauren Peers pitched six innings, allowing four runs, three earned, on seven hits, falling to 5-9 this year.
UP NEXT
The Saints are back on Saturday, April 26, hosting Saint Joseph's College for a doubleheader, starting at 10:00 a.m. The doubleheader will also serve as the Saints Senior Day. The Raiders are back in action tomorrow, April 23, in a doubleheader with Anna Maria.
